Although debtor failed to provide the bankruptcy trustee with additional information about $235,000 in lawsuit proceeds he received and deposited in his wife’s bank account within two years prior to filing his chapter 7 petition, he nevertheless wins a discharge ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Bankruptcy Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

A West Virginia trial court did not err in holding that plaintiff developer could not sue defendant construction company for negligence in construction of a fill slope because the alleged negligence arose solely in the context of the parties’ contractual ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Virginia Court of Appeals

In this dispute between two Episcopal clergymen who each claim to be the proper leader of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina, the 4th Circuit vacates the district court order abstaining from considering plaintiff’s Lanham Act ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

In this labor dispute between the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Fraternal Order of Police, the 4th Circuit reverses a district court order requiring WMATA to reinstate two of its police officers who were not recertified by the state ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit reverses a district court decision and says that Virginia’s policy of holding death-row prisoners in a single cell with minimal visitation and recreation prior to execution does not violate the prisoner’s procedural due process rights. The district ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

A secretary for a local conservation district in North Carolina who suspected irregularities in the administration of federal Emergency Watershed Protection contracts awarded after flooding in 1995 may pursue a federal False Claims Act suit; the 4th Circuit reverses dismissal ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Although a sentencing judge questioned the availability of and need for counseling for a defendant whose supervised release was revoked after she again forged checks, defendant did not show the court gave her a longer sentence because of concerns about ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

A district judge who repeatedly encouraged defendant to accept a plea to additional charges of access-device fraud and aggravated identity theft, and who hinted at a lesser sentence for a plea agreement, committed plain error by impermissibly participating in plea ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit upholds a Tax Court decision disallowing a $10,524,000 charitable deduction for a conservation easement based on a golf course donated by the taxpayers, which did not qualify as a real property interest because the easement agreement permitted ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Taxation

Although the district court vacated appellant’s felon-in-possession conviction in the wake of U.S. v. Simmons, the 4th Circuit says appellant is not entitled to a certificate of actual innocence that would allow him to recover compensation from the government for ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz