Weekly Edition

Catch a thief and you’re sitting on top of the world…

A routine bar meeting at the beach this summer gave one Virginia prosecutor the chance to take his own bite out of crime.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh was down in Virginia Beach for the annual confab of the Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association July 31.
He had just left a meeting at the Cavalier Hotel when […]

Passenger wins $10.2M for second brain injury

By October 2003, Lynn Zoll had become something of a spokesperson for brain injury survivors.
She had suffered a brain injury when she fell on a patch of ice in February 1987. Zoll was on her way to a brain injury conference from her Tidewater home when a tractor-trailer rear-ended the Jeep in which she was […]

Dispatcher pays for doubts about hit-and-run call

The family of a pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run accident has recovered $200,000 from a public safety dispatcher who ignored a call about the incident.
The lawsuit arising from the 2001 death of Jody Swisher alleged a Staunton dispatcher was grossly negligent in failing to heed the 911 emergency call. The dispatcher, Richard […]

Finding a storybook end for drug-dog tales

When the cops have called out the drug dogs, a lawyer’s choice of defense can make all the difference, as demonstrated by two recent Virginia Beach cases involving K-9 collars.
The circumstances of the charges again Gloria Jean Ellis and Justin Jesse Middlebrooks were remarkably similar. But the nuances of their arguments on appeal led to […]

Protecting client assets when a bank fails

Did you see any law firm managing partners among the nervous depositors in line at IndyMac bank on July 11? After U.S. Senator Charles Schumer publicly mused about what would happen if IndyMac depositors suddenly pulled their deposits, spooked customers did just that, forcing a government seizure. Depositors – individuals, businesses and law firms – […]

Tourists still going to Outer Banks despite gasoline prices

MANTEO, N.C.—More people visited the Outer Banks in June than a year ago despite soaring gasoline prices and other impediments to tourism, The Virginian-Pilot reported last week.
The Outer Banks this year also have suffered from drifting smoke from two wildfires, closed beaches and the troubled economy.
Statistics compiled by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau show […]

Portsmouth sues cable provider over failure to build studio

PORTSMOUTH—The City of Ports-mouth has filed a legal complaint claiming Cox Communications violated terms of its cable franchise there by not maintaining a studio for “local public, educational and governmental programming.’’
Cox spokeswoman Leigh Ann Woisard says a studio always has been available for the city’s use in Chesapeake. She said the agreement, which was signed […]

Child molester seeks clemency based on victim’s recantation

ROANOKE—A convicted child molester whose accuser has recanted her testimony is asking Governor Tim Kaine for clemency.
Aleck Carpitcher filed a clemency petition Tuesday.
In 1999, a Roanoke County jury convicted Carpitcher of five sex crimes after his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter testified that he fondled her. Carpitcher was sentenced to 38 years in prison.
The girl later said […]

Va. senators ask for temporary waiver of ethanol mandate

Virginia’s two U.S. senators are asking the government to ease off the federal ethanol mandate to help the state’s poultry, dairy and cattle industries.
The farming community has complained that too much of the nation’s corn crop is being diverted to biofuel. That’s driving up the cost of feed.
A federal mandate passed in December diverts about […]

Prince William detention of immigrants more expensive than county expected