Defendant hit with discovery sanctions
Trial is set to start Oct. 31 in Musick v. Dorel Juvenile Group Inc. The parents of a five-year-old girl are suing for damages – including lost earning capacity – for their daughter’s traumatic brain...
View ArticleCourt orders record sanction against Charlottesville lawyer
In what appears to be the final trial court chapter of a tangled Charlottesville legal saga, a judge has imposed $542,000 in sanctions against attorney Matthew B. Murray for hiding evidence and trying...
View ArticleLooking back on 2011: The year in legal news
The reversal of a 20-year-old noncompete case lead the case news from Virginia Lawyers in 2011. Much of the first half of year featured news from the General Assembly. Officials at the Virginia State...
View ArticleSanctions for defense lawyer, firm
A Williamsburg lawyer and her firm have been hit with $6,500 in sanctions for telling a federal judge it was “undisputed” that a car saleswoman had not been sexually harassed, despite the woman’s...
View ArticleSanctions threat means a bigger fee
An employment lawyer’s persistent threats to seek Rule 11 sanctions against opposing counsel backfired when the lawyer lost the case and had to pay extra attorney’s fees. The judge who awarded fees to...
View ArticleSanctions of $272K upheld
The Supreme Court of Virginia has approved $272,096 in sanctions against a lawyer and his client in a case arising out of a Northern Virginia real estate listing contract. The solo lawyer stung by the...
View ArticleCase settles, major sanctions award lifted by judge
By Peter Vieth A Newport News judge agreed to drop heavy sanctions against a major railroad in a recent employee injury lawsuit after the railroad settled the worker’s claim. The case highlights...
View ArticleDoctor avoids contempt charge
A physician who failed to appear for a deposition has avoided a contempt charge, but lawyers who advised the doctor to stay away have been cited for contempt by a Fairfax Circuit Court judge. In an...
View ArticleHigh court hears record wrongful death appeal
A man should not keep a jury award for his wife’s death when he and his lawyer conspired to remove photos from his Facebook page and then lied about it to the court, a defense lawyer told the Supreme...
View ArticleLitigation pitfalls and pratfalls
Lawyers can find plenty of ways to stay out of a courtroom. Instead of the hand-to-hand combat of a trial before judge or jury, they can opt for some form of alternative dispute resolution. But the...
View Article‘Baseless’ suit nets sanction of $50K
A Fairfax circuit judge has levied sanctions of $50,000 against a lawyer and his client for filing in a frivolous lawsuit based on a relationship gone bad. The plaintiff company filed a suit against a...
View ArticleAppeals court upholds denial of fees to McGuireWoods
McGuireWoods’ failure to provide full disclosure of incentives for some plaintiffs was labeled an “egregious” violation of ethical rules as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a complete denial...
View ArticleLawyer gets reprimand for flawed lawsuit
The Virginia State Bar has reprimanded a Martinsville lawyer for filing a lawsuit the judge called “dead on arrival.” William Swezey sued three people on behalf of a veterinarian who was angered by...
View ArticleJudge hits pair for sanctions of $881K
A “scorched-earth” litigation campaign mounted by a divorcee and her lawyers against the woman’s ex-husband has prompted a Fairfax County judge to impose a record-breaking $880,748.26 sanction award...
View ArticleSanctions paid, Murray now faces bar discipline
After paying a sanction award of nearly $600,000 for what a judge called an “extensive pattern of deceptive and obstructionist conduct,” former Charlottesville attorney Matthew B. Murray now faces...
View ArticleA partition suit blows up
Two big-firm Richmond lawyers are hoping the Supreme Court of Virginia will overturn a sanctions award against them arising from a contentious divorce and the sale of a landmark West Richmond home. The...
View ArticleRule 11 sanctions threatened in IRA case
An Abingdon federal judge says lawyers for a decedent’s ex-wife appear to have violated the federal good faith pleading statute by persisting in unfounded efforts to get the decedent’s $350,000 IRA...
View ArticleCompany’s late disclosure prompted judge’s ire
Imagine that after five years of litigating a complicated patent case, you’re headed into a jury trial in federal court. Now imagine you represent the plaintiff and you call your first witness. The...
View ArticleDismissal for discovery ‘defalcations’ is upheld
A new decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a case study in how to get your lawsuit dismissed for discovery abuse. Here’s what a litigant should not do: Wait until the discovery deadline...
View ArticleClient file fight prompts contempt hearing
A fight over legal files has escalated with a motion for sanctions filed by a group of lawyers who left a Richmond personal injury firm to form their own law practice. Richmond Circuit Judge Melvin R....
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