Where a defendant was entitled to an award of attorney’s fees because the court had granted the defendant’s motion to compel, the requested fees were reduced because the amount of time defendant’s counsel spent on the motion was excessive given ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Pamela Meade Sargent U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff who filed a lawsuit in Vermont federal court alleging a conspiracy by her former partner to kidnap their daughter, and then filed an essentially identical action in Virginia as a “protective action,” engaged in improper “claim splitting,” resulting ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A former county employee asserting claims for employment discrimination and retaliation is entitled to various categories of documents from the defendant, including material in the personnel files of other employees. Background Lynda Minke sued her former employer, Page County, alleging ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Joel Hoppe U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff alleging her former employer deprived her of wages for hours worked can proceed with an unjust enrichment claim as it does not require an interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement, and is thus not preempted by the Labor ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Jackson L. Kiser U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff who served the defendant 91 days after filing suit, which is outside the required 90 days, will not have his employment discrimination complaint dismissed, as the court concluded the defendant was not unduly prejudiced by the one-day delay. ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Glen E. Conrad U.S. District Court - Western District

Complaints brought by two people injured in a car accident were pared back because the plaintiffs did not plead facts sufficient to support claims for negligence per se and res ipsa loquitur. Negligence and gross negligence claims, however, will proceed ...

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

A regional jail authority that prohibited prisoners from obtaining magazines and books unless they received prior permission infringed the First Amendment and due process rights of the Human Rights Defense Center by restricting prisoners’ access to the books and magazines ...

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

Where coal miner filed his products liability claims against the companies who sold, manufactured, designed and marketed the respirators he used within two years after he was diagnosed with complicated coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, his claims were still barred by the ...

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

Where a patent for an accumulation table that conveys products from one production machine to another included functional language describing how the accumulation table was to be used, it would be premature to determine whether the functional language rendered the ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A school cafeteria employee is alleging a coworker created a hostile work environment by leering, snarling and grimacing at her and other female employees. Background Judy Atkins alleges that her former employer, the Smyth County Virginia School Board, and her ...

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