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Adverse inference instruction ordered in accident suit
Where a man suing for his alleged injuries in an automobile accident deleted text messages and emails on his second cell phone covering a period of two years, and discarded the phone before defendants could have their own expert conduct a deletion analysis on the phone, the jury may presume that the lost cell phone […]
Attorneys’ fees awarded to City of Norfolk
Where the court previously dismissed a lawsuit for lack of standing, the plaintiffs’ motion to reconsider was denied because it did not show the court misapplied the facts or the law. The City of Norfolk, moreover, was awarded most of the attorneys’ fees it incurred in defending the suit. Background On Oct. 29, 2021, plaintiffs […]
Destruction of relevant evidence results in dismissal
Where an employee spoliated electronically stored information, and the missing evidence could not be restored or replaced by the parties’ good-faith effort, the employee was denied leave to amend his complaint, resulting in the effective dismissal of his suit. Background Liberty University seeks sanctions against Walter Scott Lamb for the spoliation of electronically stored information, [&hellip[...]
No sanctions for failure to preserve evidence
Where defendants argued a woman who was injured in an automobile accident should be sanctioned because her vehicle event data recorder, or EDR, had been destroyed, but the record showed the woman’s counsel took reasonable steps to preserve the EDR, but defense counsel failed to take timely steps to gather such evidence, the motion was […]
Sanctions denied despite late document production
Although a party in a complex construction case made a late production of more than 79,000 documents, requiring the re-deposition of five witnesses, sanctions were denied. The party acted promptly by alerting the court and opposing counsel about the error, and discovery was completed within the discovery deadline. Background In this complex construction case, on […]
Pro se plaintiff sanctioned for filing frivolous motions
Where the court denied a man’s four motions as baseless, and warned him against filing further similar motions, and the man then filed more similar motions, he was ordered to pay $2,660 to the defendant. Background The court directed Jie Liu to show cause why he should not be sanctioned under Rule 11. As stated […]
Lawyer got due process in sanctions hearing
Where a sanctioned lawyer argued that he was not given sufficient notice of the charges and penalties, but the complaint provided detailed and specific allegations of misconduct, identified the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code that the lawyer allegedly violated and outlined the exact sanctions that were ultimately imposed, his due process argument failed. Background The […]
Sanctions levied after discovery violations
A party’s discovery delays resulted in a default judgment and an award of more than $80,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to its opponent. On appeal, the sanctioned party argued that the harsh sanctions were an abuse of discretion because they responded to discovery — albeit more than 200 days late — and their opponent […]
Sanctions award of attorneys’ fees upheld
Even though a party didn’t have to pay her own attorneys’ fees, she had incurred reasonable expenses that could be awarded as sanctions, the Virginia Supreme Court has held in a matter of first impression. “We conclude that regardless of whether the attorney’s fees were incurred personally by [the defendant], the fees were incurred on […]
Sanctions levied for Rule 11 violations
The plaintiff in a long-running dispute over the management and distribution of the assets of a bankrupt partnership must pay the defendant’s legal fees, a federal judge has ruled. In this case, the plaintiff’s amended complaint “is baseless on all counts in terms of evidentiary support,” U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton of the Eastern […]
Plaintiff sanctioned for ‘multiple’ Rule 11 violations
Where the plaintiff failed to support any of her claims with evidence, no reasonable person would believe the claims were factually justified and it appeared the suit was filed for an improper purpose, the plaintiff must pay the defendants’ legal fees. Background This case involves a decades long dispute over the management and distribution of […]
Party awarded fees, costs for successful motion
Where a company suing its former sales agent for unlawful competition showed that agent spoliated evidence, it was awarded its fees and costs incurred in preparing the spoliation motion. Its fee request, however, was reduced by 5% because it included several tasks unrelated to the spoliation motion. Background In April of 2019, GMS Industrial Supply […]
Verdicts & Settlements
- Plaintiff injured in crash with oncoming vehicle — $235,000 settlement
- Driver killed in rear-end collision with tractor-trailer — $1.5M settlement
- Man died from pancreatic cancer after delayed response — $1.8M settlement
- Worker fell off roof, rendering him a paraplegic — $1.25M settlement
- Driver sustained permanent hearing loss after traffic collision — $240,000 settlement
- Plaintiff suffered concussion in rear-end collision — $81,000 verdict
- Builder misrepresented home status to buyers — $675,000 verdict
- Low potassium led to cardiac arrest, death of patient — $1M settlement
- Excessive propofol caused death in dialysis patient — $850,000 settlement
- Pedestrian struck in crosswalk in hit-and-run incident — $300,000 settlement
- Navy veteran killed in collision with box truck — $1.85M arbitration award
- Motorcyclist ejected from bike in collision with SUV — $1.5M settlement
Opinion Digests
- Company owner dodges breach of contract suit
- Employee’s own allegations doom minimum wage claim
- Federal government defeats former employee’s claims
- Principal wasn’t entitled to exclusively remote work
- USPTO properly redacted info in responsive documents
- Untimely lawsuit allowed to proceed
- Engineering consultant dismissed from suit
- Rule 60 motion was filed too late
- Nonprofit directors immune from ex-employees’ claims
- City, employees immune from whistleblower claims
- Experts excluded in condemnation damages suit
- Judgment entered against company for horse’s death
