The VLW Blog

Speaking of tasers, more people are speaking of tasers these days.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly reports three taser-related cases in next week’s issue, which doubles the number of “taser” cases reported in prior years since 1993.
A Richmond federal district judge said in Keller v. Town of Colonial Beach (VLW 007-3-410)that a man who alleged injury from a […]

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Reed Smith LLP will establish a presence in China when it merges with a Hong Kong firm on Jan. 1.
The partners of Richards Butler Hong Kong will become partners in Reed Smith, an international law firm originally founded in Pennsylvania. The firm has 77 lawyers in three Virginia offices, located in Falls Church, Richmond […]

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Supreme Court Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn was sworn in yesterday at an investiture ceremony in downtown Richmond, reports The Associated Press.

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Three death-penalty law experts met yesterday at the University of Richmond law school. Even with the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule soon on whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, they agreed the debate over the death penalty won’t be over any time in the near future. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story.

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A Valparaiso University law professor who is an expert in animal control law has been selected to decide what to do with the 48 pit bulls seized at Michael Vick’s Surry County property. The Daily Press has the story.

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An environmental activist group has filed a federal lawsuit, seeking to stop construction of Interstate 73, a proposed highway from the Roanoke Valley to the North Carolina state line. But the Roanoke Times reports that a group called Virginians for Appropriate Roads filed suit in Richmond, hoping to halt funding for the $4 billion project.

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When a Newport News circuit judge recently approved a plea deal that suspended all 45 years of a pedophile’s prison term, The Daily Press saw its online message board light up with angry comments.
But the paper talked to Peninsula prosecutors and defense lawyers and found that judges usually trust the lawyers to get it right […]

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The furor over Virginia’s new scheme of civil remedial fees aimed at “abusive drivers” was loud during the summer, and some politicians, mostly Republicans concerned about keeping their majority, worried the fees would be a campaign issue this fall.
The hubbub has died down, but some in the GOP worry about a last-minute push in […]

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An Alexandria federal district court has dismissed a securities fraud suit against two former executives who allegedly published false financial information despite knowing about their company’s “lax internal controls” and “dysfunctional accounting systems.”
A class of disappointed investors sued BearingPoint Inc., formerly KPMG Consulting LLC, its former president and CEO Randolph Blazer and former vice president […]

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael F. Urbanski yesterday dismissed a $2 million lawsuit filed by a Lynchburg woman claiming that the company that makes pre-moistened Pledge and Windex wipes stole her idea.
The News & Advance has the follow-up story.

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