A high-flying business deal to give airplane passengers in-flight Internet has crash-landed, winding up in Richmond federal court. It’s an oft-told tale, the court said: A business deal, all “optimism and cooperation” at the outset, is soured by funding problems ...

Tagged with: Contract Federal Courts Judge David J. Novak Judge Dennis Dohnal

In plaintiff sales executive’s contract action against his former employer, the Richmond U.S. District Court accepts the magistrate judge’s recommendations to seal documents filed by plaintiff and redact proprietary and confidential information, and to vacate the default judgment against defendant ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Dennis Dohnal Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An African-American boat painter who won his retaliation claim against a boatyard owner who shared with another local boatyard that the painter had filed an EEOC charge after he was terminated, now wins attorney’s fees as the Richmond U.S. District ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Judge Dennis Dohnal

Hearing the matter by consent of the parties under 28 USC§636(c)(1), the Richmond U.S. District Court magistrate judge grants summary judgment for a life insurer that mailed unsigned notices according to the policy terms cancelling a “key man” insurance policy ...

Tagged with: Insurance Judge Dennis Dohnal U.S. District Court - Eastern District

As a sanction under Rules 37 and 41 for continued noncompliance with its discovery orders, the Richmond U.S. District Court magistrate judge recommends dismissal of a pro se employment discrimination suit and directs employer’s counsel to file a motion under ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge Dennis Dohnal U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the address used for service of process on defendant in this auto-accident case was for “Blue Sky Road, instead of Blue Sky Drive, the mere technical error had no impact on effective service of process, with the result that ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge Dennis Dohnal U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Richmond U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendation to deny remand of this suit for contract damages for an alleged defective title search, as plaintiff has not demonstrated the suit is for less than the jurisdictional threshold of ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge Dennis Dohnal Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this suit in which an African-American boat painter won damages for retaliation by a boatyard owner who shared with other area boatyard owners the painter’s EEOC charge, filed after the painter’s termination, the Richmond U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge Dennis Dohnal U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An employment lawyer’s persistent threats to seek Rule 11 sanctions against opposing counsel backfired when the lawyer lost the case and had to pay extra attorney’s fees. The judge who awarded fees to the winning Title VII plaintiff said his ...

Tagged with: Employment Federal Courts Judge Dennis Dohnal Sanctions

Plaintiff was a 41-year-old divorced man who worked as a highway construction inspector. Near midnight on July 1, 2010, the plaintiff positioned his work truck, a leased vehicle, in the safety zone of a VDOT work site on Interstate 295 ...

Tagged with: Federal Courts Judge Dennis Dohnal Million-Dollar Settlements Personal Injury