A Fairfax Circuit Court says lawyers who sent prospective defendants an unfiled “draft complaint” for an employment discrimination claim, “for settlement purposes,” have an absolute privilege from a defamation claim filed by another lawyer named in the draft complaint and ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge R. Terrence Ney Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

A contractor who was arrested for attempted abduction of a 10-year-old boy who asked for a ride home and got into the contractor’s truck, after a neighbor intervened, told the boy to get out and accused the contractor of trying ...

Tagged with: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

A law firm that represented a housing authority for 30 years, but lost that client after the chairman of the county board of supervisors “verbally clashed” with a partner and allegedly acted with “malice” to destroy the attorney-client relationship, cannot ...

Tagged with: Justice Donald W. Lemons Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

Plaintiff business has stated claims for trespass and conversion against defendant company, which owns and is developing adjacent real estate for a hotel, for the company’s alleged trespass onto plaintiff’s property for excavation and removal of fill dirt, and the ...

Tagged with: Hanover County Circuit Court Judge J. Overton Harris Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

Although plaintiff claims Virginia case law would allow a civil conspiracy claim for damage to her non-business personal interest in real property, a Roanoke County Circuit Court says a personal interest in property is not covered under the Virginia conspiracy ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. Roanoke County Circuit Court Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

A Roanoke judge sitting in Russell County Circuit Court says a former clerk of that court cannot sue a newspaper for defamation for including in a story about her son, a lawyer who was disciplined by the Virginia State Bar, ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. Russell County Circuit Court Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

A homeowner whose home was treated with the wrong pesticide can sue for negligence, even if the service was covered by a contract, according to a new case from the Supreme Court of Virginia. In October 2006, a technician for ...

Tagged with: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia News Tort

Although the state park public beach visited by a church youth group may not have had a spiritual mission, the youth group had such a mission, and a 22nd Judicial Circuit Court says defendant church and its leaders have charitable ...

Tagged with: Judge Charles J. Strauss Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirms a judgment for a contractor in his malicious prosecution action against owners of a commercial building who hired the contractor for renovations of the building and then complained to the sheriff’s office about construction ...

Tagged with: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

An engineering firm’s unambiguous contract with Meadowbrook, plaintiff Kmart’s landlord, to prepare site engineering documents made the firm the agent of the landlord, and Kmart cannot sue the defendants for civil conspiracy to breach the lease between Kmart and its ...

Tagged with: Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward Hogshire Tort Virginia Circuit Courts