Panel interviews of four candidates – even split by gender – to fill a U.S. Marshals Service leadership position provided no basis to find that the proffered reasons for selecting a male candidate were a pretext for gender discrimination. Background ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Under Virginia law, “smoke” composed of suspended particulate matter caused by concrete dust qualified for an exception to the “pollution exclusion” in the insured company’s policy. Background In this insurance coverage dispute, Plaintiff Allied Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and ...

Tagged with: Insurance Judge Anthony J. Trenga U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The actions of 28 Chinese entities selling counterfeit goods on the internet did not arise out of the same transaction or occurrence, and they must be severed into individual suits. Background The Defendants, 28 unrelated individuals and entities located in the People’s ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Holding that “unclean hands” is not a defense to equitable relief in antitrust, the court excluded the defendant’s evidence that the plaintiff misappropriated its trade secrets, finding such evidence not probative under Federal Rule of Evidence 402. Background Plaintiff Steves ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A contract employee plausibly stated claims for FLSA violations and breach of contract based on allegations that his employer withheld two weeks of paychecks. Because the state court in his earlier-filed action on the same grounds had not made any ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge M. Hannah Lauck U.S. District Court - Eastern District Wage & Hour

Defendants who asked the court to dismiss the case against them for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction had no basis to appeal the court’s denial without prejudice. The court had denied the motion on procedural grounds and ordered jurisdictional discovery to ...

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

Based on plausibly-alleged alternative theories of when her personal property sustained water damage, a plaintiff’s state-law claims against the company that both stored and shipped her property were not pre-empted by federal law governing interstate carriers. Background As alleged in ...

Tagged with: Judge Ivan D. Davis Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Because the existing record gave the court no grounds to determine whether (1) the defendant was lawfully present in the U.S. at the time a firearm was found in his residence or (2) whether the conviction statute could satisfy Second ...

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

An Alexandria federal judge pointedly condemned the “dishonesty” of a patent lawyer who profited from licensing a company’s patent portfolio while keeping the company in the dark about his activities. U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady said Erik Cherdak’s “character for ...

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

Panel interviews of four candidates – even split by gender – to fill a U.S. Marshals Service leadership position provided no basis to find that the proffered reasons for selecting a male candidate were a pretext for gender discrimination. Background ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District