An arbitrator did not exceed his jurisdiction in reversing United Airlines’ decision to terminate a pilot accused of retaliation. The arbitrator acknowledged the retaliation standard from United’s policy and the definition applied by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and sufficiently ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where an employer never responded to the employee’s claims for unpaid overtime wages and liquidated damages, the employee was awarded $3,920 in overtime wages, an equal amount as liquidated damages and $8,329.75 in attorneys’ fees and costs. Background Plaintiff filed ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the plaintiff delayed producing documents related to the medical care she alleges she received as a result of the defendant’s conduct, the delay was caused by factors beyond her control and dismissal of her claims was not warranted as ...

Tagged with: Judge Theresa C. Buchanan Sanctions U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the defendant was ordered to respond to long-overdue discovery, the sanctions requested by the plaintiff, including striking of a counterclaim and affirmative defenses, were disproportionate. As the pandemic likely made discovery more difficult and the parties are still litigating ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a federal loan servicer offered evidence suggesting a law firm operated a fraudulent scheme to create lawsuits under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, the firm was ordered to produce documents because of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client ...

Tagged with: Employment Employment Law Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A federal judge’s ruling on attorney-cli­ent privilege has brought to light a novel Virginia lawsuit claim: Lawyers alleged­ly induced student loan debtors to stop making payments in order to trigger ac­tionable collection calls. A student loan debt servicer claims the ...

Tagged with: Judge Theresa C. Buchanan Student Loans U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A judge’s discovery sanctions will hobble a seagoing security company in its bid for insurance coverage after its ship and crew were seized by Indian authorities. The sanctions include preclusion of evidence beyond the company’s limited discovery responses and an ...

Tagged with: Insurance Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a plaintiff was entitled to an award of attorney’s fees and reasonable expenses because the court had granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel, fees charged by plaintiff’s counsel in relation to work unrelated to the motion to compel could ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In rejecting the attorney-client privilege argument made by a law firm that once represented two plaintiffs, the court found the defendant made a prima facie showing that plaintiffs committed fraud upon the court by producing altered emails and that fraud ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In an African-American female’s suit alleging race and age discrimination by defendant IKEA US East LLC, an Alexandria U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge orders the pro se plaintiff to pay defendant $4,792 for its reasonable fees and expenses for plaintiff’s ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Theresa C. Buchanan U.S. District Court - Eastern District