Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

A lawyer may not ethically serve as a mechanic’s lien agent for a real estate project and then to defend against one of the liens thus filed, according to the Virginia State Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics. In Legal ...

A driver injured when his truck and attached boat trailer overturned has received a $2,112,500 settlement from the manufacturer of the boat trailer. The case, filed in Norfolk Circuit Court, was Morgan v. Calkins Manufacturing Co. (see Trial Reports, Jan. ...

By John Carter Morgan Jr. Attorneys handling DUIs should be aware of a not-so-obvious defense which may be available in certain circumstances. Most attorneys are aware that when the results of a BAC blood test are unavailable, the case may ...

A Virginia lawyer overstepped ethical boundaries in a divorce case when the lawyer asked a Virginia court to issue and enforce an unenforceable subpoena to obtain an out-of-state resident’s financial documents, according to the Virginia State Bar Standing Committee on ...

The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s top legislative priority this year is changing the medical malpractice cap. According to Talmage Williams, the VTLA’s director of government affairs, the association is working on a compromise which would restrict the cap to pain-and-suffering ...

Family law practitioners would support a rehabilitative alimony statute and a mandatory termination of spousal support for cohabitation, according to a survey conducted by the Family Law Section of the Virginia State Bar. However, respondents did not favor changes to ...

The Virginia Court of Appeals has reversed a woman’s conviction for driving on a suspended license because the arresting officer acted solely on the anonymous tip of a passing motorist. The officer did not ask the informant how he knew ...

A lawyer may argue in circuit court that a sexual assault claim is barred by the Workers’ Compensation Act, then turn around and argue before the Comp Commission that a comp claim based on the same incident belongs in circuit ...

An association of Virginia collection agencies wants to have legislation introduced into the 1993 General Assembly which would allow the agencies to prepare warrants in debt for their creditor clients. A draft proposal of a “right of assignment” statute currently ...

A woman whose health maintenance organization paid her medical bills is entitled to recover damages for those same medical bills in a suit against the HMO for medical malpractice, an Alexandria federal district judge has ruled. The HMO argued that ...