A Norfolk police officer who was test-driving a repaired police boat when it capsized and allegedly injured two employees of the repair company may assert a state sovereign immunity de­fense in plaintiff employees’ maritime personal injury suit filed in state ...

Tagged with: Negligence Norfolk Circuit Court

Police who found defendant, a drug investigation target, on the deck of his boat when they arrested him on a misdemeanor warrant could not justi­fy a warrantless below-deck search by arguing a confidential informant had seen people coming and going ...

Tagged with: Norfolk Circuit Court Search & Seizure

Apartment owners being sued by plaintiffs for alleged injuries from a tree limb that fell on plaintiffs have not stated a third-party claim for liability on the part of an electric utility that al­legedly had a duty to maintain an ...

Tagged with: Hon. David Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Real Estate

A Norfolk Circuit Court says defen­dants, who lost property to foreclosure, have stated counterclaims for actual and constructive fraud with allegations that plaintiff bank knowingly and intentional­ly misrepresented the amount of money defendants were required to pay to satis­fy a ...

Tagged with: Creditor's Rights Norfolk Circuit Court

In this dispute involving a New Home Warranty, a Norfolk Circuit Court says defendant received adequate notice of plaintiff homeowners’ claims of defects, but sets aside the jury’s award of $15,000 to homeowners, who proved, at most, $3,900 in damages. ...

Tagged with: Contract Hon. David Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court

In the owner’s challenge to the city of Norfolk’s tax assessments of the Norfolk Waterside Sheraton Hotel, the Norfolk Circuit Court says the owner successfully rebutted the presumption of correctness by proving the city com­mitted manifest error in miscalculating the ...

Tagged with: Hon. David Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Real Estate

A Norfolk police officer familiar with the housing project where he saw an ap­parent “group of minors” at 12:30 a.m., had a reasonable, articulable suspicion for stopping defendant, based on his “fairly short and fairly small stature,” for a suspected ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Search & Seizure

A bank that has a judgment against a heavy equipment company and its prin­cipal shareholder cannot using a “veil piercing” theory to enforce that judgment against a separate Virginia limited lia­bility company owned by the sharehold­er’s fiancée, “with whom he ...

Tagged with: Corporate Judge Mary Jane Hall Norfolk Circuit Court

On Sept. 15, 2016, a Norfolk jury awarded a total of $379,475 in damages – including $140,850 in punitive damages for actual fraud and $95,450 in increased damages un­der the Virginia Con­sumer Protection Act – to two men defrauded by ...

Tagged with: Actual Fraud Judge Mary Jane Hall Norfolk Circuit Court

A defendant discovered with a handgun and a zip lock bag with 9mm ammunition, who was charged under Va. Code § 18.2- 308.2 with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a concealed weapon by a convicted ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mary Jane Hall Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts