Weekly Edition

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

Guatemalan sentenced for transporting illegal aliens

ROANOKE—A Guatemalan native who admitted transporting illegal immigrants up Interstate 81 has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
Pedro Antonio Mateo was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. He pleaded guilty in May.
In April, a Virginia State Police trooper stopped a sport utility vehicle on the interstate in Botetourt […]

Federal inmate charged in alleged Holocaust scam

The government says an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg has been charged with running an elaborate scheme to cash in bank accounts intended for the families of Holocaust victims.
The accused, 49-year-old John Kenneth Leighnor Jr., was indicted last week on three counts of mail fraud and eight counts of aggravated identity theft. […]

VSB Disciplinary Actions

On July 24, 2008, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board summarily suspended the Virginia law license of Richard A. Counts of Johnson City, Tenn. The suspension was based on a decision by the Supreme Court of Tennessee on April 7, 2008, to suspend Counts’s license in that state for 30 days. The board ordered Counts […]

Train in vain

Here’s a nightmare that would haunt any lawyer. But for a West Coast law firm, it was a scenario that was all too real. A courier, entrusted with a document that had to get there in time, fell asleep on a train, misplaced the document, went into a panic and failed to tell the firm […]

Med-mal cap fight on horizon for 2009

Familiar battle lines between plaintiffs’ lawyers and doctors will be forming soon over a possible increase in Virginia’s $2 million cap on damages in medical malpractice cases.
The arena has been quiet for nine years as the malpractice cap advanced in steps from $1.5 million. As part of the legislative deal that resulted in stairstep […]

Judge sets aside $310K verdict

A Prince William County judge has set aside a $310,000 jury award for a couple who won a finding of constructive fraud by the contractor who installed a barrier exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) on their home.
The action by Judge William D. Hamblen occurred after the deadline for an article on the case in […]

Shannon running for Democrats’ AG nod

A five-year veteran of the Virginia House of Delegates with experience as a prosecutor is campaigning for the 2009 Democratic nomination for Virginia attorney general, bringing to four the number of contenders for the position.
Del. Steve Shannon, D-Fairfax, is the only candidate who has surfaced as a possible Democratic contender in the race where three […]

Proposals to harmonize rules floated by panel

Differences in the rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia Court of Appeals have tripped up many otherwise competent attorneys.
One difference has been especially troubling. The court of appeals rules require that a petition for appeal contain “questions presented” but say nothing about “assignments of error.” Supreme Court rules say nothing about […]