A Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court magistrate judge recommends applying the doctrine of fraudulent joinder to assume jurisdiction over this physician employment dispute even though plaintiff doctor named a nondiverse defendant and dismissing the nondiverse defendant who could not ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge Pamela Meade Sargent U.S. District Court - Western District

A Richmond U.S. District Court grants plaintiff PBM Products leave to amend to name plaintiff’s sister company, PBM Nutritionals LLC, as a plaintiff in this suit against Mead Johnson Nutrition Company. The 4th Circuit has noted there is a tension ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge James R. Spencer U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A woman who tripped and broke her elbow in a Food Lion store gets another shot at a trial thanks to a ruling today from the Supreme Court of Virginia, which again serves notice that summary judgment is rarely appropriate ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia

An injured longshoreman who managed to keep his case out of federal court has won a $5 million verdict from a Portsmouth jury. The Virginian-Pilot reports Sherman Whitaker was hurt when he fell through a shipyard catwalk in 2002.  His ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Million-Dollar Verdicts Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has just made it a bit easier for inmates hoping to score with civil litigation to stay at the plate for a few more pitches. The court has loosened the 1996 “three strikes ...

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

A wrongful death suit filed by a family member who had not yet qualified as a personal representative of the decedent is a nullity and cannot be nonsuited, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled. Because the wrongful death statute requires ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Supreme Court of Virginia Wrongful Death

We reported recently on an attempt in Australia to use Facebook for service of process, advising archly, “Don’t try this in Virginia.”  In Northern Virginia, however, attorneys now hope to use e-mail to serve a summons on an elusive witness. ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Criminal Social Media

The Lexington Fire Department has taken the City of Lexington to federal court over the disposition of a bequest. As the Roanoke Times reports, the suit brings to light a dispute over who controls the firefighters’ budget. Volunteer firefighters apparently ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure

You’ve briefed and argued your Virginia circuit court case. Weeks go by and the judge still has it under advisement. Your client wants to know what’s taking so long. The remedy under the Virginia Code: tell it to the Chief. ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure General Assembly Supreme Court of Virginia

You probably don’t have this much interest in interest. The Supreme Court of Virginia takes 49 pages, including a five-page concurrence, to untangle the mess created by two jury trials, two earlier appeals, the specification by a jury of an ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Supreme Court of Virginia