Two enterprising West Virginia lawyers are soliciting clients to sue West Virginia University, claiming that the school’s decision to award a degree to an under-qualified but well-connected candidate has diminished the value of its degrees across the board. The Huntington Herald-Dispatch has the story.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday unanimously reported to the full Senate the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Steven Agee to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) proclaimed, “The Senate is now poised to confirm Agee before the Memorial Day recess, breaking through years of delay….”
Leahy did not stop there. Possibly feeling the heat from recent, mostly-partisan criticism about delays in consideration of President Bush’s nominees, Leahy went on at length in a news release and statement to explain his view of the long and contentious federal bench battles, harking back to the days when North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms blocked President Clinton’s 4th Circuit nominees.
“The efforts and years wasted on President Bush’s controversial nominations followed in the wake of the Republican Senate majority’s refusal to consider any of President Clinton’s Fourth Circuit nominees,” Leahy said.
Law enforcement officers might dream of headlines about catching public enemies and saving citizens from harm. Unfortunately, those are not the headlines coming out out about Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Deputy Ronald Anderson. His latest appearance in the news columns concerns his recent arrest in North Carolina for driving while impaired. It was only two months ago that Anderson received attention for shooting himself in the hand and leg during a training exercise.
Taboada v. Daily Seven, the premises liability case that greatly expanded the potential liability of hotel operators, has been settled. The case is perhaps better known for the intemperate petition for a rehearing filed by a Roanoke attorney that earned him a contempt citation and a fine from the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Roanoke Times has an excellent account of the case and its significance with links to the Supreme Court opinions and an earlier article.
There will be some new faces in the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, as two of the people who helped launch the program turn the reins over to new leadership.
Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., of the Supreme Court of Virginia, is assuming the duties of Justice Barbara Milano Keenan, who chaired the Supreme Court task force that developed the JPE program starting in 2001 and then continued to oversee roll-out of the program in 2005.
Ellen Marie Hess, a former corporate and government lawyer, has taken over from retiring Judge Suzanne K. Fulton as coordinator of the program, to watch over the day-to-day operations.
Chief Judge Leroy Hassell Sr. made the announcements during his 2008 State of the Judiciary message to Virginia’s circuit court judges in Williamsburg May 13.
Keenan has been asked to head development of a Judges Helping Judges program, similar to the Lawyers Helping Lawyers program that supports attorneys struggling with substance abuse.
It’s a banner week for Newport News lawyer Len Bennett. He’s on the winning side in two federal decisions interpreting the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The big news is the 4th Circuit’s opinion in Saunders v. Branch Banking and Trust Company of Virginia, where the court affirms an award of $80,000 in punitive damages even though the jury declined to award any actual damages. The Times-Dispatch notes the decision here.
In the other FCRA decision this week, Richmond federal district Judge Henry Hudson ruled that the limitations clock starts over every time that a consumer disputes a credit report and the report is not properly handled by a creditor.
Imagine the surprise of a man who opened the mail to find a subpoena for his 1-year-old son. That’s right, a Harrisonburg chiropractor sued a baby.
The Daily News Record explains that the judge dismissed the ill-advised collections action; apparently, the address in the baby’s file never got updated after the family moved, so his parents didn’t know about the debt.
But what if the suit went forward? The baby couldn’t testify, says his dad. The boy barely can say “dog” at this point. And what if the chiropractor got a judgment? What would he levy on - the baby’s teething biscuits?
Virginian-Pilot columnist Kerry Dougherty got an interesting piece out of her trip to general district court for the trial of a photographic exhibitionist. Thanks and a tip of the hat to Steve Minor for spotting this.
From the Virginian-Pilot comes word that former Virginia governor and current Richmond lawyer Linwood Holton plans to discuss his life in politics at a Norfolk bookstore on June 17.
The Daily Press carries the AP report that Virginia’s Medicaid fraud unit, part of the attorney general’s office, recovered more last year than any other state.
