Opinion Digests

Search & Seizure - Traffic Stop - Reasonable Suspicion - Passenger Pat-Down

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

Police had reasonable, articulable suspicion to stop a vehicle, a Lynchburg U.S. District Court says, after observing a man for whom they had an outstanding felony warrant emerge from a residence where they were conducting a surveillance and get into the vehicle, and the vehicle stop and pat-down of defendant, a fellow passenger, did not […]

Criminal - Forfeiture - Venue Change

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A Lynchburg U.S. District Court refuses to transfer to another federal court a convicted defendant’s request for return of cash and other property seized by the government in relation to defendant’s drug offenses and conspiracy charges.
Defendant alleges a Senior U.S. Judge of this court conspired with an Assistant U.S. Attorney in a “deliberate and insidious […]

Municipal - Bribery - Bid-Rigging - Damages

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

An Abingdon U.S. District Court grants defendants’ motions for judgment as a matter of law overturning the jury verdict awarding $250,000 in damages against each in an action by plaintiff county alleging bribery and bid-rigging.
The county contended that defendants were liable to it under Va. Code§ 2.2-3123, which provides that any contract obtained through bribery […]

Creditor’s Rights - Escrow Account - Waterfront Project - Bank ‘Customer’

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

Although a Roanoke U.S. District Court agrees a bank doesn’t need a written agreement to assume the duties of an escrow agent, plaintiff investors’ claim that defendant bank knew it was serving as an agent for funds for a defunct Franklin County waterfront development did not make the investors “customers” of the bank and the […]

Criminal - Forfeiture - Requested Return

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A defendant whose convictions for drug violations, conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise have been affirmed by the appeals court, which also affirmed the related forfeiture of cash and drugs, is not entitled to return of the cash, a Lynchburg U.S. District Court holds.
As with his previous motions, defendant here makes several arguments: 1) probable cause […]

Taxation - Employment Taxes - Penalty Recovery

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

Although a secretary/treasurer for a wholesale greenhouse business claims he could not write checks for over $3,000 without a co-signature of the company president, the Charlottesville U.S. District Court rejects his “co-signatory defense” to his liability for employment taxes owed to the federal government; but the government cannot collect from plaintiff the share of the […]

Tort - Business Torts - Research Hospital Chief - Audit

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A former medical academic at the University of Virginia, who alleges he was unfairly demoted from administrative posts and that actions by defendant department chair defamed him and caused the University of Maryland to withdraw an offer of employment, has his claims for violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, defamation and tortious interference with business […]

Employment Discrimination - Age - Title VII - Gender - ADA

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

An Alexandria U.S. District Court grants the CIA partial dismissal of plaintiff employee’s claim alleging disability discrimination, and summary judgment on the remainder of her claims for age, race and gender discrimination.
Plaintiff is a 47-year-old employee of the CIA working at the agency’s Diversity Plans and Programs Department, who alleged she suffered a panic attack […]

Employment Discrimination - Title VII - Fire Captain Promotion - Race & Gender

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

Although plaintiff asserts she performed well in a written exam used to assess qualifications for promotion to captain in the Arlington County Fire Department, the record shows her deficiencies in numerous other categories used to assess leadership and decision-making abilities, and the Alexandria U.S. District Court grants defendant county summary judgment in plaintiff’s Title VII […]

Consumer Protection - Home Sale - Incarcerated Seller

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

In this suit filed by a home seller who used a lawyer, real estate agent and a power of attorney granted to his uncle to sell his home while he was incarcerated in 2003, an Alexandria U.S. District Court grants defendant mortgage company’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claim.
Plaintiff brings four counts against defendant mortgage company, […]

Civil Procedure - Default Judgment - Corporate Defendant

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

An Alexandria U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendation to enter default judgment of $117,540 for plaintiff consultant and against a corporate defendant for breach of contract, but not against the individual defendant who signed the contract as a representative of the corporation.
The magistrate judge did not err in declaring that the individual defendant […]

Employment Discrimination - Title VII - Race - Venue

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A pro se plaintiff’s suit alleging race discrimination in violation of Title VII arising from the IRS’s denial of certain job positions to plaintiff is transferred to the Alexandria U.S. District Court, based on the location of the alleged acts.
Here, plaintiff’s non-selection for positions in the IRS’s Arlington, Va. office took place exclusively in Virginia, […]

Civil Procedure - Recusal Motion - Bias Claim

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A designer who claimed defendant Macy’s stole his idea for a clothing line and ad campaign inspired by jazz singer Josephine Baker has his second motion for recusal on the ground of alleged judicial bias denied by an Alexandria U.S. District Court.
Plaintiff requests recusal of the judge for “demonstrated bias and appearance of bias in […]

Criminal - Sentencing - Perjury - Gang Accusation

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A defendant convicted of making false statements to a grand jury about his membership in the MS-13 gang, knew that he was lying to the grand jury investigating two murders, and his sentence will be enhanced under USSG § 2J1.3(c)(1), an Alexandria U.S. District Court holds.
The question presented at sentencing – somewhat novel in this […]

Civil Rights - Attorney’s Fees - ‘Prevailing Party’

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

After seven years of litigation that led to an injunction against enforcement of Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board regulations that discriminated against out-of-state producers and sellers of wine and beer, a Richmond U.S. District Court judge accepts the report and recommendation of the magistrate judge and awards attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs who challenged the […]

Civil Procedure - Civil Forfeiture - Exotic Wood - ‘Household Effects’

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A couple returning from State Department employment in Nicaragua cannot claim the several tons of wood from an endangered species of Nicaraguan rainforest tree are “household effects,” and the wood is forfeited due to their violation of U.S. law, an Alexandria U.S. District Court holds.
Dipteryx Panamensis is an endangered species and cannot be imported without […]

Contract - Arbitration - Political Consultant - Implied Agreement

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

A political consultant who breached his employment contract can’t overturn a $366,037 judgment against him by claiming the contract’s arbitration clause did not call for judicial enforcement, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says.
The consultant contends the arbitration clause in his employment agreement did not provide for the entry of a judgment on the […]

Environmental - State Agency - Sovereign Immunity

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

The director of the South Carolina Department of Transportation cannot invoke 11th Amendment sovereign immunity to have a court dismiss this suit by the South Carolina Wildlife Federation claiming the state agency’s proposed construction of a bridge violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the 4th Circuit says.
The district court denied the agency’s motion to dismiss […]

Search & Seizure - Defective Search Warrants - Good Faith Exception

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

On interlocutory appeal, the 4th Circuit reverses district court orders suppressing evidence found in the residences of two drug conspiracy defendants, and remands for an inquiry whether the Leon good –faith exception supports admission of the evidence.
The affidavit at issue, to search 3516 Sandpiper Court in Edgewood, Md., does not specify any particular evidence – […]

Corporate - SOX Whisteblower Claim - Fraud - Billing Discrepancy

By Deborah Elkins
December 15, 2008

In this Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower case, the 4th Circuit affirms the Department of Labor decision that plaintiff, a former airline official, was not entitled to SOX protection for her report to management of a billing discrepancy that allegedly reflected a scheme involving pilots’ efforts to game a system for “flight loss pay” for union work.
Plaintiff Stacy […]

< Previous articles
Next articles >