A judge will allow a defamation claim to go forward against a Norfolk hospital that allegedly referred a mistaken bill to a collection agency. The plaintiff claimed the referral led to bad credit reports against her. The unusual facts produced ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court

A woman who received a bill from a hospital, even though she was not a patient, can sue the hospital for defamation after it referred the erroneous bill to a debt collector. Background In August 2015, Children’s Hospital of the ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

The court lacks jurisdiction to consider this administrative appeal. The City of Norfolk, the petitioner, was not a named party in the agency’s adjudication and submitted no public comments. Thus, it was not entitled to service of the final decision ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Although the Virginia Consumer Protection Act covers interment rights, a plaintiff suing a cemetery owner failed to offer evidence of the misrepresentation needed to prove her claim. She said she asked for plots right next to her parents’ plots, but ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Contract Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk judge says a bright line rule has emerged from Virginia’s court rulings on non-moving DWI cases: If the defendant was in the driver’s seat and the key was in the ignition, the defendant was operating the vehicle. That ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court

A defendant who sat in the driver’s seat of her vehicle and rotated the key in the ignition to roll up the windows was “operating” the vehicle while intoxicated, even though she never started the car’s engine or intended to ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Traffic Virginia Circuit Courts

An employee with a felony record was not discharged when his employer announced that employees would be subject to background checks and let go if they were felons. Rather, he voluntarily terminated his own employment in anticipation of discharge and ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Unemployment Comp Virginia Circuit Courts

While officers had the defendant’s explicit consent to search specific rooms in his house and implied consent to take a path leading to those rooms, his firearm was seen only after an officer deviated from that path. Thus, it exceeded ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Search & Seizure Virginia Circuit Courts

As seasoned attorneys know, the lofty principles that attract aspiring lawyers can quickly be overshadowed by client emergencies, Sisyphean scheduling conundrums, unreasonable opposing counsel, billing targets, intrafirm politics, and understaffed courts. But from time to time, our esteemed judges take ...

Tagged with: Judge Albert Diaz Judge David A. Oblon Judge David W. Lannetti Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. Judge T.S. Ellis III

This lawsuit was brought by a patient who presented to the emergency department at Sentara Obici on April 28, 2013, after tripping and falling face first on brick stairs, without anything to brace her fall. A CT Scan was ordered ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Medical Malpractice Million-Dollar Defense Verdicts Norfolk Circuit Court