On Dec. 11, 2016, the 83-year-old plaintiff went to lunch with her family at a Richmond area restaurant after church services. Shortly after checking in at the hostess stand, the hostess asked the plaintiff and her party to follow her ...

Tagged with: Judge Catherine Hammond Premises Liability Richmond Circuit Court Settlement

Members of Portsmouth city council vio­lated the Virginia Freedom of Information Act by delivering to a council member, with­out a public vote, a letter disciplining him for a public announcement on Facebook that council would meet in closed session to ...

Tagged with: Administrative Judge Catherine Hammond Portsmouth Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Virginia lawyers have had a tool to validate wills that fail to meet the strict requirements of authentic­ity for almost nine years. Lawyers report increasing use of what has been called the “harmless error rule” for wills that don’t quite ...

Tagged with: de facto will Judge Catherine Hammond Judge Robert J. Smith Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

A Henrico Circuit Court orders two sisters acting as trustees of their mother’s trust to reimburse the trust for their legal fees in successfully defending a separate defamation action filed by their brother, a trust beneficiary; because of conflict among ...

Tagged with: Henrico County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Hammond Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Siblings who traded accusations over use of their mother’s money have spent thousands on legal fees, and the legal wrangling is still not over. A son is fighting with two sisters, both sides claiming the other breached duties under a ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Hanover County Circuit Court Henrico County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Hammond Judge T.J. Markow Richmond Circuit Court

In this will contest between decedent’s niece and his widow, the Henrico County Circuit Court concludes the 2012 will proffered by the widow is a fake created after his death, but it will admit to probate a photocopy of an ...

Tagged with: Henrico County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Hammond Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

A will contest with an international flavor was resolved in a Henrico County courtroom last month when a judge concluded that a formally executed will offered by a widow, backed by two witnesses, was just “an elaborate fake.” Henrico Circuit ...

Tagged with: Henrico County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Hammond Wills & Trusts

An auto liability policy is void because the applicant, a sole proprietor who applied as “Kitchens Unlimited LLC,” had a criminal record but denied he had ever been arrested; the Henrico Circuit Court grants judgment to plaintiff insurance carrier in ...

Tagged with: Henrico County Circuit Court Insurance Judge Catherine Hammond Virginia Circuit Courts

An American citizen wife who met her Indian national husband through the Internet and married him in Henrico and then again five months later in an “elaborate religious wedding” in India is not entitled to an annulment on the ground ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Henrico County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Hammond Virginia Circuit Courts

HOT SPRINGS–Lawyers and judges lament the decline in the number of jury trials, but find little common ground on what to do about the trend – or whether anything needs to be done at all. “If you lose the jury ...

Tagged with: Judge Catherine Hammond Justice Donald W. Lemons Virginia Bar Association