A company which asserted trade secrets claims against three high-level management employees and their new companies, only to drop them after the close of discovery, will not be sanctioned for its conduct because the evidence showed the company had at ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Per Curiam Opinion Sanctions

Because of their failure to respond to post-judgment discovery and an order requiring them to respond to the post-judgment discovery, two defendants must pay a daily fine to the court until they provide adequate discovery responses. Background After default judgment ...

Tagged with: Judge Liam O'Grady Sanctions U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The failure of a nurse practitioner to produce thousands of email messages in her suits against a hospital, and her submission, after a day-long deposition, of a 54-page declaration that rendered her deposition useless, supported the district court’s decision to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Paul V. Niemeyer Sanctions

The Virginia State Bar may drop two low-level options for resolving ethics charges against attorneys. The VSB’s Standing Committee on Lawyer Discipline also proposes changes aimed at improving public notice of disciplinary actions and open access to disciplinary proceedings. Two ...

Tagged with: Sanctions Virginia State Bar News

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

The court held a boat maker was not in violation of a permanent injunction enjoining it from making, selling or offering for sale an infringing product, because it had sufficiently redesigned the boats so as to not infringe the plaintiff’s ...

Tagged with: Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. Sanctions U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Because the plaintiff knew about the scheduled settlement conference, failed to alert the court about a conflict, decided not to attend contrary to advice from counsel and chose not to use electronic devices for communication, the case was dismissed with ...

Tagged with: Judge Roderick C. Young Sanctions U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Attorneys’ “egregious” conduct was designed to, and did, mislead the district court, the 4th Circuit affirmed. They challenged the authenticity of a loan agreement for two years before revealing that they possessed an identical copy, obtained from their client, before ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Attorneys Fees Banking Civil Practice Contract Judge Allyson K. Duncan Sanctions

In a case brought by an autistic man for alleged mistreatment in prison, the Virginia Department of Corrections acted in bad faith by failing to adequately prepare organizational witnesses under FRCP 30(b)(6). Background Plaintiff Reginald Latson has moved to compel ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Civil Practice Civil Procedure Discovery Judge James P. Jones Sanctions U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff suing for $4.75 million on a groundless defamation claim is liable for a proportion of the defendant’s litigation fees and costs. The plaintiff’s attorney was not subject to sanctions, as she relied on her client’s information until she ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Attorneys Fees Civil Practice Judge H. Lee Harrell Montgomery County Circuit Court Sanctions Tort Virginia Circuit Courts