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Opinion Digests

Sep 25, 2023

Company owner dodges breach of contract suit

Where the CEO of the corporate defendant only acted for the benefit of the corporation, there were insufficient allegations to pierce the corporate veil and hold him personally responsible for the company’s alleged breach of contract. Background According to the allegations in the complaint, in 2018, Shandong Reltex Leihua Co. Ltd entered into a warehousing […]

Sep 25, 2023

Employee’s own allegations doom minimum wage claim

Where a former employee failed to allege facts plausibly suggesting that his employer failed to provide compensation beneath the statutory minimum wage over the course of any workweek, his minimum wage claim was dismissed. Background Addison Davila filed an amended complaint on April 26, 2023, alleging that SJ Perry LLC failed to pay its hourly […]

Sep 25, 2023

Federal government defeats former employee’s claims

Where claims brought by a former Defense Logistics Agency employee were barred by sovereign immunity or failed to state a claim, they were dismissed. Background William David Jones, proceeding pro se, has filed suit against his former employer, the Defense Logistics Agency, or DLA, and 12 individual federal employees for violations that he alleges occurred […]

Sep 25, 2023

Principal wasn’t entitled to exclusively remote work

Where an elementary school principal alleged that she was denied a reasonable accommodation when her request for entirely remote work was denied, but physical presence was an essential function of the position, the school district prevailed on the failure to accommodate claim. Background In this disability discrimination and retaliation suit, the School Board of the […]

Sep 25, 2023

USPTO properly redacted info in responsive documents

Where the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, redacted confidential, sensitive and privileged information from bar disciplinary hearings before producing the documents to an expelled attorney, it prevailed in a suit challenging the redactions. Background Richard Polidi, an attorney who had been expelled from the patent bar, submitted a request for documents to […]

Sep 25, 2023

Untimely lawsuit allowed to proceed

Where a company failed to file a lawsuit against its carrier within the statute of limitations, but it alleged that it would have filed suit earlier if not for the intentional misrepresentation of the carrier’s agent, it set forth sufficient factual allegations to support equitable estoppel. Background On Nov. 9, 2022, Entrepraneur [sic] Dream Team […]

Sep 25, 2023

Engineering consultant dismissed from suit

Where a company pleaded no facts plausibly showing that an engineering consultant either directly copied plaintiff’s drawings or that its drawings were substantially similar to plaintiff’s, the copyright infringement claim against the engineering consultant was dismissed. Background Metropolitan Engineering Inc. alleges that four defendants — WDG Architecture PLLC; Girard Engineering Inc.; R[...]

Sep 25, 2023

Rule 60 motion was filed too late

Where a man filed a Rule 60(b)(3) motion for reconsideration more than two years after his negligence lawsuit was dismissed, the reconsideration motion was dismissed as untimely. Background In November 2018, Tony Perez Welch filed a negligence suit against defendants in the circuit court, alleging that he was injured in an automobile accident in the […]

Sep 25, 2023

Nonprofit directors immune from ex-employees’ claims

Where uncompensated directors of a nonprofit organization did not engage in “willful misconduct or a knowing violation of the criminal law,” they were immune from claims by former employees under the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act, or VNCA. Background Patients Out of Time, or POT, is a nonprofit organization. Michael Aldrich, Denis Petro, Irvin Rosenfeld, Melanie […]

Sep 25, 2023

City, employees immune from whistleblower claims

Where a woman alleged that the City of Lynchburg, its fire chief and its city manager violated Virginia’s Fraud and Abuse Whistle Blower Protection Act, the defendants were entitled to sovereign immunity against this claim. Background Mary Lynn Shumate alleges that the City of Lynchburg violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 […]

Sep 25, 2023

Experts excluded in condemnation damages suit

Where two of the landowners’ experts in a condemnation damages suit provided opinions that were unreliable, and a third expert failed to provide a required report, they were excluded from the trial. Background Mountain Valley Pipeline, or MVP, is constructing an interstate natural gas pipeline. MVP commenced a condemnation action under the Natural Gas Act […]

Sep 25, 2023

Judgment entered against company for horse’s death

Where an equine transport company was sued for its alleged negligence in the death of a show horse, and the horse’s owner alleged that the company made material misrepresentations about its “superior insurance coverage for equine transport,” the company was liable for its constructive fraud. Background A show horse named Elton, who was owned by […]

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