Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where homeowners claimed defendants breached mortgage contracts in 2011 but filed suit in 2017, their claims were dismissed as time-barred and their argument that the statute of limitations does not apply because of equitable estoppel was rejected. Background In 2006, ...

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

Where a property settlement agreement was ambiguous on whether an ex-wife relinquished her rights to the husband’s life insurance policy as part of their divorce, the district court erred by awarding the policy’s proceeds to the decedent’s daughter. The issue ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr.

The arguments of two defendants, members of the MS-13 street gang who were convicted in a racketeering case, that the district court made numerous evidentiary errors during the trial were rejected. In addition, claims by one of the defendants who ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Albert Diaz

Although a judge’s comments about pit bulls and dogfighting made after vivid photos and videos were presented during the sentencing of defendants convicted of dogfighting and drug-trafficking offenses were “injudicious,” they did not require recusal. Nor were the sentences procedurally ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Per Curiam Opinion

Where a pre-K special education teacher was not meeting the expectations of the Arlington County School Board, no adverse employment action was taken against him and he did not show he was treated differently from similarly situated employees outside of ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge Claude M. Hilton U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the charges against the plaintiff, who maintained his innocence in a missing person’s case, were ultimately dropped after he was arrested, extradited from Virginia to North Carolina and held in jail, his suit against various officials and entities for ...

Tagged with: Judge Henry E. Hudson Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the record demonstrated the defendant did not own or operate a waterslide at the time of a woman’s alleged injury, and she offered no evidence or testimony establishing notice of an unsafe condition, the defendant was granted summary judgment. ...

Tagged with: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith Negligence U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the plaintiff experienced pain following a 1996 surgery, told a doctor in 2000 that her pain was caused by that surgery and failed to request a medical report that would have revealed the cause of the pain until 2015, ...

Tagged with: Judge Ivan D. Davis Medical Malpractice U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a student found guilty of cheating on the final exam sued Virginia Tech and two employees after his initial suit was dismissed again failed to allege sufficient facts to establish a violation of a protected liberty interest, his second ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Robert S. Ballou U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a trial against prisoner transportation companies had already been bifurcated into a liability/compensatory portion and a separate punitive damages portion, the first phase of trial will not be further bifurcated because it would inconvenience the parties, the witnesses, the ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District