Game on? Judge not happy over discovery
Pretrial discovery can be a matter of strategy, and some lawyers even approach it as a game. But one circuit judge in Norfolk isn’t pleased with what he saw as game-playing in a medical-malpractice...
View ArticleChief unveils e-filing pilot program details
ABINGDON–Virginia lawyers may soon get a glimpse of what is promised to be a simple and centralized system for electronic filing in the state courts. Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr....
View ArticleNorfolk lawyer wins in Legal Food Frenzy
The law office of B. Cullen Gibson in Norfolk has won the Attorney General’s Cup for raising the most food per person in the fifth annual Legal Food Frenzy. The frenzy raised more than 1.6 million...
View ArticleExperts’ travel costs awarded under new test
A Norfolk federal court has awarded reimbursement for experts’ travel time to depositions, but at a rate that is half the hourly charge for time actually spent in deposition. Senior U.S. District Judge...
View ArticleTV lawyer fired on ‘morals clause’ claim
An actor who made his reputation playing a slightly sleazy TV lawyer can tell a jury he did not violate a morality clause in his contract to be a celebrity spokesperson for a legal marketing campaign....
View ArticleNo D.C. rates for D.C. lawyers, Norfolk court says
Washington, D.C. lawyers who won a pro bono voter records case can’t expect to recoup fees at D.C. rates, a Norfolk federal judge said last week. Lawyers from the D.C. office of Boston-based Ropes...
View ArticleConsolidated trials allowed in Norfolk drywall cases
Norfolk Circuit Judge Mary Jane Hall will allow small groups of plaintiffs to try their Chinese drywall cases together, rejecting defense arguments that disparate personal injury claims would make...
View ArticleLoud objection to jury service was not contempt
A Norfolk man whose loud protest about a jury summons earned him a contempt conviction has been exonerated by the Court of Appeals of Virginia. James C. Henderson definitely did NOT want to serve on a...
View ArticleComplaint about jury summons stopped short of contempt
Court personnel are on the front lines of customer service every day. So it’s nice when someone notices these public servants can’t always respond to the guff they can get when dealing with the public....
View ArticleAward for U.S. 58 bridge reduced to $12 million
The contractor for the Clarksville bypass on U.S. 58 is due $12 million, $9.2 million less than he originally was awarded, Norfolk Circuit Judge Charles E. Poston has ruled. The Virginia Court of...
View ArticleNo contract ‘clawback’ for public employee
A Norfolk city agency cannot collect contract damages against the supervisor of a “no-show” employee for the money the agency paid the absent employee, a Norfolk Circuit Court says. Virginia contract...
View ArticleLawyer jailed on obstruction of justice charge
A Norfolk criminal defense attorney was arrested days after he allegedly yelled accusations against his client’s co-defendant in a courtroom hallway. Herman C. Smith III is being held without bond in...
View ArticleCourt panel imposes one-year suspension for lawyer
After a failed appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia, a previously imposed 12-month suspension for Norfolk-based attorney Curtis Brown is now effective. A panel of Norfolk Circuit Court judges found...
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