Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where the plaintiff alleged only an “informational injury” stemming from an  alleged misrepresentation in a letter from a debt-collection company, he lacked standing to assert his claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA. Background This is a ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where body camera footage showed the decedent, an unarmed Black man who had been accused of violent conduct and was resisting arrest, quickly swung both of his arms in the direction of the officers in a motion that looked like ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights U.S. District Court - Western District

Defense counsel provided effective assistance by not asserting an insanity defense. Petitioner is denied habeas corpus relief. “Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984), a petitioner must prove both that his counsel’s performance was deficient and that he ...

Tagged with: Habeas Corpus Va. Circuit Court

Because a defendant may complete the final element of an aggravated RICO conspiracy without using, attempting to use or threatening to use physical force, an aggravated RICO conspiracy is not categorically a crime of violence. Background Antonio Simmons, Nathaniel Mitchell ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Where the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mailed a right-to-sue letter to the employee in November 2019, his January 2021 lawsuit was untimely because it wasn’t filed within 90 days. His declaration of nonreceipt was insufficient to rebut the presumption of ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a police officer was allowed to wear running shoes as an accommodation for her disability, but that permission was revoked nine days after she asserted that she had been denied equal pay as acting sergeant on account of her ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a former Drug Enforcement Agency special agent alleged facts supporting his claim that he was forced to resign after submitting an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint, his retaliatory constructive discharge claim survived the motion to dismiss. Background Eric Katz has ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the director of the Pittsylvania County Department of Social Services, or DSS, was terminated two weeks after she spoke as a private citizen about community divisions affecting the delivery of social services in Pittsylvania County, a jury will decide ...

Tagged with: Constitutional U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a Muslim teacher alleged she was subject to mandatory Christian prayers and other proselytizing, despite requests that such efforts cease; was repeatedly called a “radical Islamic terrorist” and her repeated complaints were ignored, she plausibly alleged a claim for ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a detainee alleged his doctor violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, by revealing in a medical setting that the detainee had not taken his HIV medication, the claim was dismissed. The court joined ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights