A former employee’s claim for defamation based on her prior employer’s statement to her new employer that she was terminated for “insubordination” may proceed. The statement can be proven true or false and suggested the employee lacked integrity in performing ...

Tagged with: Judge David J. Novak Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a convicted serial killer moved for a stay of execution under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, arguing his intellectual disability precluded his execution, and he had previously made this claim in a prior § 2255 petition, his successive § 2255 ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where officers speaking to a man in his parked car drew no weapons, used nonthreatening language, never touched the driver and made no attempt to physically block his departure, a reasonable person would have felt free to leave. The officers ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a Chesterfield county police officer executed a closed-handed strike to a driver’s face during a traffic stop, the driver’s excessive force claim survived the motion to dismiss as the crime was a misdemeanor, the driver posed no immediate threat ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the Virginia Supreme Court has yet to recognize a post-sale duty to warn, the court held a manufacturer is liable for failing to warn about dangers discovered after selling a product if it was reasonable to provide such warnings. ...

Tagged with: Judge David J. Novak Products Liability U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a Black guest at a Hilton hotel alleged that while waiting in the lobby he was asked to produce identification and a room key when white guests were not similarly harassed, he plausibly stated claims for discrimination under federal ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Black customer of the Hilton Downtown Richmond hotel can proceed with his discrimination lawsuit over alleged harassment by a security guard, even though he was never denied room accommodations. That was the ruling Dec. 4 by U.S. District Judge ...

Tagged with: discrimination Hilton Downtown Richmond Judge David J. Novak

Where the defendant mail carrier was in possession of mail consisting largely of holiday cards that often contain gift cards or cash more than two months after it should have been delivered, and provided no reason why she held on ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the purchaser of gasses used in the manufacture of steel pipes argued the defendant breached the product agreement by increasing prices by more than 2% per year, it waived enforcement of the price-escalation provision by buying (without complaint) gasses ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although 15 months elapsed between the date the school board learned about a teacher’s membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the decision to not renew her contract, four discrete incidents of retaliatory animus that ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District