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Employment: Company prevails on discrimination and retaliation claims
Where the record showed an employee was not satisfying the requirements of her position and did not improve her performance after being placed on a corrective action plan, the company prevailed on her discrimination and retaliation claims.
Employment: Hostile work environment claim against city of Alexandria is dismissed
Where a city of Alexandria police officer alleged she was exposed to a racial hostile work environment, but her allegations were insufficient to support this claim, it was dismissed.
Education: Parents prevail in IDEA suit
Where the Prince William County School Board’s complaint challenged a hearing officer’s decisions regarding past years, but its motion for judgment was focused on the student’s placement in future years, the forward-looking arguments were not properly before the court.
Employment: Employee fails to plead viable failure to accommodate claim
Where an employee merely alleged that he requested reasonable accommodation “including telework due to transportation challenges,” but did not refer to any specific disability, and failed to include any allegations regarding the nature of his work, he failed to state a viable failure to accommodate claim.
Insurance: Insurer prevails in suit over erroneous payment to beneficiary
Where a life insurance company mistakenly made duplicate $230,674.56 payments to a beneficiary, and the beneficiary refused to return the second (incorrect) payment, the company prevailed on its claims for unjust enrichment, conversion and money had and received.
Patent and Trademark: Preliminary injunction entered against alleged counterfeiters
Where the plaintiff showed she was likely to succeed on her patent infringement claims against alleged counterfeiters, that she would suffer irreparable harm if the infringing conduct was not enjoined or the alleged counterfeiters could transfer their ill-gotten gains, that the alleged counterfeiters would not suffer any harm and that the public interest supported an injunction, she was granted a [...]
Patent and Trademark: Defendant’s ‘invalidity’ summary judgment motion is denied
Where a company sued for patent infringement moved for summary judgment on issues of validity, but it failed to overcome the heavy presumption that patents are presumed valid, its motion was denied.
Employer prevails in disability suit over COVID mask mandate
A federal judge ruled a government contractor didn’t discriminate by placing an unvaccinated worker on leave due to a contractee's mask mandate. ADA claims were dismissed.
Fraud: Plaintiff sues three individuals under RICO
Where a company’s founder plausibly alleged three defendants devised a scheme to unlawfully take control of the company for their own benefit, his single-count complaint under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act survived motions to dismiss.
Banks and Banking: Banks dodge customer’s suit following fraudulent transfer
Where a bank customer was convinced to transfer money by a fraudster, its claims against two banks were dismissed.
Employment: Government contractor prevails on employee’s disability claims
Where a woman was temporarily prevented from working at a federal government facility because of her unvaccinated status, her employer prevailed on her disability claims. An adverse employment action is meant to reflect an intentional decision by an employer, and such a decision is not present here
Prisons: Parents sue jail and hospital personnel following son’s death
Where parents sued jail and hospital personnel after their son died while in custody, the claims and defendants were narrowed by the court.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Medical Malpractice – Patient suffers stroke from ruptured aneurysm
- Premises Liability- Man suffers paralysis after bench tipped back
- Medical Malpractice – Botched tubal ligation results in childbirth
- Motor Vehicle Negligence – Pickup truck passenger dies from crash injuries
- Medical Malpractice-Patient received spleen injury during colonoscopy
- Medical Malpractice – Patient suffers complications from improper cyst removal
- Motor Vehicle Negligence Henrico driver sustained wrist fracture in five-car collision
- Medical Malpractice-Patient dies following blood loss in surgery
- Motor Vehicle Negligence – Defense points to plaintiff’s prior collision, stressors
- Medical Malpractice – Ingrown toenail removal leads to CRPS type 2
- Motor Vehicle Negligence Rear-seat passenger injured when car hits telephone pole
Opinion Digests
- Arbitration – Court decides whether nonparty to arbitration agreement can enforce it
- Constitutional – Circuit court applied wrong standard in church dispute
- Civil Procedure – Medical malpractice statute of limitations doesn’t apply to claims against hospital
- Bankruptcy – Creditor can’t examine debtor under Bankruptcy Code § 707(b)(1)
- Administrative – Court construes Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
- Taxation – County’s tax assessment was ‘plainly wrong’
- Negligence – Release doesn’t bar rider’s negligence claim against horse owner
- Bankruptcy – Motion to reinstate Chapter 7 petition previously dismissed by court is denied
- Wills and trusts – Court applied incorrect statute of limitations to breach of trust claims
- Administrative – Doctor’s attacks on license suspension order fails
- Habeas Corpus – Petition attacking military court martial is dismissed
- Parent and Child – Stepmother awarded custody of stepchildren over father’s objection
