Where a federal statute generally preempts state law causes of action for goods lost or damaged in transit, a homeowner alleging her household goods were lost or stolen during a move could not escape application of the statute by alleging ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tort

Where one government contractor alleged a competitor misappropriated trade secrets in order to create a copycat website, but there was no evidence that the defendant government contractor directly shared trade secrets or acquired trade secrets through improper means, the defendants ...

Tagged with: Judge Claude M. Hilton Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the personal trainer for the former president of Liberty University alleged he was defamed in two articles published in 2019, his March 2021 suit was dismissed because it was filed beyond Virginia’s one-year defamation statute of limitations. Although one ...

Tagged with: Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon Tort U.S. District Court - Western District

Where the federal government and Virginia alleged that Walgreens violated the False Claims Act and state laws when it falsified documents to obtain reimbursements for hepatitis C medications that would otherwise be denied by Virginia, but Virginia Medicaid’s requirements were ...

Tagged with: Judge James P. Jones Tort U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a widow alleged her husband’s death was caused by his exposure to contaminated water and environmental toxins while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune, her complaint was properly dismissed. The alleged exposure occurred in the course of the decedent’s ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Tort

Where a parent claimed the school board violated his First Amendment rights by restricting his speech at meetings, the board took that action because he had personally attacked individual board members. To the extent the speech of other parents was ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Henry F. Floyd Tort

In an issue of first impression that has divided other circuits, the court held that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act does not give private plaintiffs a right to sue for injunctive relief. Background The named plaintiffs ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Jones Rushing Tort

Although the defendants argued a student’s use of a Jane Doe pseudonym without court permission was a jurisdictional defect, that argument failed because her complaint alleging she was harmed by the school’s failure to end the sexual harassment and abuse ...

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

Where the Fourth Circuit previously held that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act allows a plaintiff to establish personal jurisdiction over a defendant by effectuating service over the defendant in any district in which the defendant resides, ...

Tagged with: Judge M. Hannah Lauck Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where three employees formed a company and competed with their current employer for a contract from another company, they did not breach a duty of loyalty owed to their employer because they were preparing for work that would begin after ...

Tagged with: Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District