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Employment: Parties dispute whether employee gave notice of alleged harassment
Where an employee alleged that he reported incidents of racial harassment to another employee, and there were disputed facts over whether that other employee was a “supervisor,” the company’s motion for summary judgment was denied. A reasonable jury could possibly conclude that plaintiff’s actions in reporting the incidents to the other employee may impute liability to the company.
Mixed results in malicious prosecution verdict
A federal jury issued defamation and malicious prosecution verdicts in a six-year Virginia case, with a judge later reducing both awards under state punitive caps.
Tort: VUTSA preemption argument is rejected
Where defendants argued the Virginia Uniform Trade Secrets Act preempted other non-statutory trade secret claims, this argument failed. Because the factual claims in this case go beyond misappropriation of trade secrets alone, preemption does not apply at this stage.
Employment: Virginia Overtime Wage Act class action may proceed
Where a company argued that the Virginia Overtime Wage Act did not allow class actions in federal court, this argument was rejected. The court followed Glennon v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 2022 WL 18937383 (E.D. Va. Sept. 22, 2022), which held that permitting class actions did not violate the Rules Enabling Act.
Criminal: Government bound by statement of facts submitted at time plea was entered
Where the government stipulated to a set of facts that were submitted to the court at the time the defendant’s plea was entered, it was bound by those stipulations.
Tort: County employee sues government investigators
Where a former county employee sued two individuals who investigated her alleged conduct, which resulted in the filing of criminal charges, for malicious prosecution, but the investigators were not the proximate cause of her seizure and prosecution, they were granted summary judgment.
Damages: Prevailing employer awarded attorneys’ fees in ERISA suit
Where the company prevailed on the employee’s ERISA claims, it was awarded over $76,000 in attorneys’ fees.
Tort: Plaintiff lacks standing to sue over software he doesn’t own
Where the plaintiff filed suit over software he allegedly developed, but another federal court has held that he had assigned all rights in the software to his then-employer, the plaintiff lacked standing to pursue his claims, and his suit was dismissed.
Securities: Lawsuit against pharma company and executives is dismissed
Where the complaint failed to plead facts showing the challenged statements were actionable under federal securities laws, the lawsuit was dismissed.
Arbitration: Credit card dispute ordered to arbitration
Where a consumer alleged approximately $15,000 in credit charges were fraudulent, the dispute was ordered to arbitration. The consumer agreed to the arbitration agreement, the claims were encompassed by the mutual arbitration agreement and the bank did not waive its right to compel arbitration.
Sanctions: Plaintiffs awarded $737,706.81 in attorneys’ fees and costs
Where the court previously granted plaintiffs’ amended motion for sanctions, it now awarded them $737,706.81 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
Employment: Court refuses to decertify conditionally certified overtime class
Where the court conditionally certified a class in an overtime suit brought by nurses who review medical records, it denied the defendants’ motion to decertify. Minor discrepancies as to job title, the teams under which different plaintiffs worked and the specific types of authorization requests reviewed do not significantly disturb the material similarities.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Motor Vehicle Negligence Rear-seat passenger injured when car hits telephone pole
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Car crash after back surgery causes additional injuries
- Medical Malpractice – Jurors side with cardiologist over treatment of strokes
- Negligence and Tort- Ice pack use during tattoo removal causes frostbite
- Workers’ Compensation Struck by metal door at workplace, plaintiff sustains subdural hematoma
- Motor Vehicle Negligence Woman struck by vehicle loses senses of taste, smell
- Motor Vehicle Negligence – Pedestrian struck by car while in parking lot
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Driver fractures right leg in tractor-trailer collision
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Motorcyclist hit by car suffers two broken wrists
- Medical Malpractice – Young patient commits suicide while on psychoactive drugs
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Art teacher’s hand injured in collision
Opinion Digests
- Criminal – Sentence for ‘unusually heinous’ conduct is affirmed
- Criminal – Sentence wasn’t unreasonable despite deportation consequences
- Appeals – Waiver in plea agreement forecloses most arguments on appeal
- Appeals – Appellant’s informal brief forfeited appellate review
- Employment – Failure to exhaust administrative remedies dooms Title VII suit
- Jurors – Dishonest juror didn’t violate defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights
- Criminal – Motion to suppress backpack denied where defendant abandoned item
- Civil Rights – Officer denied immunity in fatal shooting case
- Civil Rights – No qualified immunity on excessive force police K-9 claim
- Criminal – Probable cause includes dog’s positive alert for narcotics
- Criminal – Evidence supports obstruction of justice conviction
- Search & Seizure – Inventory search exception applies to warrantless search
