As the home healthcare aides were employees, not independent contractors, their employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying them overtime. Moreover, because the employer was ignorant of the relevant rules, it was liable for additional liquidated damages, ...

Tagged with: Judge Leonie Brinkema Labor U.S. District Court - Eastern District

As the home healthcare aides were employees, not independent contractors, their employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying them overtime. Moreover, because the employer was ignorant of the relevant rules, it was liable for additional liquidated damages, ...

Tagged with: Judge Leonie Brinkema Labor U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Homeowners cannot demand that the defendants produce the original note for inspection because such a demand is contrary to Virginia’s non-judicial foreclosure laws. In addition, the homeowners lack standing to contest the assignments of the deed, the appointment of substitute ...

Tagged with: Banking Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The United States cannot claim sovereign immunity against claims that Americans violated international law by subjecting plaintiffs to torture at the Abu Ghraib prison. While that ruling of first impression allowed a government contractor sued over its alleged involvement in ...

Tagged with: Judge Leonie Brinkema Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the City of Alexandria moved to dismiss a suit brought by an opera singer arrested for violating the city’s ordinance after singing on the sidewalks, the motion was denied in part because the Noise Control Code uses vague, standard-less ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a motion to seal documents in a criminal case mistakenly included two references to criminal proceedings against a person named Assange, but there was no public record that the government had filed criminal charges against Julian Assange, the application ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A man’s conviction for murder and use of a firearm during a crime of violence was proper as he admitted struggling with three Pentagon police officers, grabbing one of their weapons and firing at the officers, one of whom died ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The court adopted the magistrate judge’s report finding a corporate plaintiff established that it owned the stolen domain name, which was unlawfully transferred by the defaulting defendant. Background Blackshore Properties Inc. filed this civil action against two defendants: John Doe, ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The court rejected a defendant’s argument that his conviction for aiding and abetting attempted murder does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under the §924(c)(3)(A) “force clause,” finding that just because an aspect of his conviction was attempted murder ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In a case involving claims of sham real estate investments, a pro se defendant and her company’s repeated failure to appear before the magistrate judge and repeated violations of Federal Rules and court orders, even after compliance with discovery was ...

Tagged with: Judge Leonie Brinkema Sanctions U.S. District Court - Eastern District