Pro se plaintiff hit with $20,000 in sanctions
Even after giving some slack to a litigant representing himself, a Fairfax County judge imposed more than $20,000 in sanctions against a real estate broker who said he was defamed by an ethics...
View ArticleBankruptcy judges banish lawyer for 4 months
Richmond’s two federal bankruptcy judges banned a Richmond lawyer from their courts for four months earlier this year. The sanction for alleged poor practice was upheld Sept. 26 by a U.S. district...
View ArticleFormer exec pays $36K in sanctions
A former CEO who sued for $150 million over his job loss struck out in federal court this month, paying $36,660 in discovery sanctions and then having his claim tossed out of court by a skeptical...
View ArticleSanctions approved for ‘vindictive’ litigation
A litigant in Virginia courts can be punished for vindictive lawsuits regardless of whether the claims in those lawsuits had any validity, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled this month. The court said...
View ArticleLawyer sanctioned for refusing to allow late answer
The request came on the afternoon of deadline day. The lawyer for a heating contractor was about to get an unexpected prize in a mechanic’s lien case. The clock was running out on an opponent’s time to...
View ArticleSanctions approved for ‘vindictive’ litigation
A litigant in Virginia courts can be punished for vindictive lawsuits regardless of whether the claims in those lawsuits had any validity, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled this month. The court said...
View ArticleLawyer sanctioned for refusing to allow late answer
The request came on the afternoon of deadline day. The lawyer for a heating contractor was about to get an unexpected prize in a mechanic’s lien case. The clock was running out on an opponent’s time to...
View ArticleSCV: Sanctions order after 21-day period void
The high court voided a sanctions order entered more than 21 days after the circuit court’s final order granting the defendant’s demurrer and dismissing the complaint. Appellant Timothy M. Barrett...
View ArticleBankr.: Company, attorneys sanctioned for bankruptcy scam
This case involves yet another collision between traditional methods of providing – and policing – legal services to consumers for bankruptcy matters and attempts by attorneys and creative online...
View ArticleEDVA: No (further) fees awarded in bitter patent fight
Following contentious patent litigation, the court declined to award attorneys’ fees requested on grounds that the patent owner’s claims and litigation conduct were exceptionally unreasonable....
View ArticleWDVA: Attorneys sanctioned for bad-faith litigation
Based on frivolous claims and lack of candor with the court, a charitable bond organization and its individual attorneys will be responsible for a Virginia sheriff’s legal fees in defending those...
View ArticleVa. Cir.: Attorney, but not client, evades sanctions for frivolous suit
A plaintiff suing for $4.75 million on a groundless defamation claim is liable for a proportion of the defendant’s litigation fees and costs. The plaintiff’s attorney was not subject to sanctions, as...
View ArticleWDVA: VDOC sanctioned for unprepared deponents
In a case brought by an autistic man for alleged mistreatment in prison, the Virginia Department of Corrections acted in bad faith by failing to adequately prepare organizational witnesses under FRCP...
View Article4th Cir.: $150,000 sanction on counsel, firms upheld
Attorneys’ “egregious” conduct was designed to, and did, mislead the district court, the 4th Circuit affirmed. They challenged the authenticity of a loan agreement for two years before revealing that...
View ArticleFailure to appear results in dismissal
Because the plaintiff knew about the scheduled settlement conference, failed to alert the court about a conflict, decided not to attend contrary to advice from counsel and chose not to use electronic...
View ArticleBoat maker’s changes in redesign did not violate injunction
The court held a boat maker was not in violation of a permanent injunction enjoining it from making, selling or offering for sale an infringing product, because it had sufficiently redesigned the boats...
View ArticleDefendant hit with default as sanction
In a case involving claims of sham real estate investments, a pro se defendant and her company’s repeated failure to appear before the magistrate judge and repeated violations of Federal Rules and...
View ArticleBar proposes elimination of lowest sanctions
The Virginia State Bar may drop two low-level options for resolving ethics charges against attorneys. The VSB’s Standing Committee on Lawyer Discipline also proposes changes aimed at improving public...
View ArticleFlagrant discovery violations support dismissal sanction
The failure of a nurse practitioner to produce thousands of email messages in her suits against a hospital, and her submission, after a day-long deposition, of a 54-page declaration that rendered her...
View ArticleFine assessed for failure to comply with court order
Because of their failure to respond to post-judgment discovery and an order requiring them to respond to the post-judgment discovery, two defendants must pay a daily fine to the court until they...
View Article