More on the Sarb-Ox case from Floyd County

This week's ABA ejournal has this account of the successful whistleblower claim of an executive against his former employer the Bank of Floyd.

I'm informed that this was not, however, the first case of its kind.

Plaintiff seeks judgment for default in discovery by defendant in sex case

Via VLW, this article ("Plaintiff asks for judgment in harassment suit," 2/11/2004) in the Charlottesville paper tells of how the plaintiff in a sexual harassment case is seeking entry of judgment against the employer/defendant for flagrant discovery violations. The article says the defendant is in the process of switching lawyers.

How to go into closed session under the FOIA in Virginia

I try to see that this short little memo gets the widest possible distribution - it is from the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, on how to make a motion to go into closed session in Virginia.

More on the new suit by TN commissioner against ROA and others

The Norfolk paper has this article ("Tennessee official files suit to recover insurance assets," 2/12/2004) and Insurance Journal has this article ("Tenn. Commissioner Files Suit on Behalf of Reciprocals' Policyholders," 2/11/2004) on the lawsuit filed in federal court in Memphis against the Reciprocal of America, its board members, and others, on behalf of American National Lawyers Insurance Reciprocal ("ANLIR") and others. ANLIR at one time was the bar-endorsed malpractice insurer for lawyers in Virginia and in Tennessee.

Stuff going on, but no time to blog it

Four published opinions from the Fourth Circuit and an opinion from Judge Williams of the W.D. Va. - and I haven't time to read them.

What I'm really trying to do this week is figure out how to drive from the Philadelphia airport to Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Hide-bound rules freak

In defiance of the training of everyone else who ever worked here, I never, never put two spaces after a period - a point on which Woody's Office for Mere Mortals almost agrees.

2004 Bar Leaders Institute in Abingdon

This year's big conference put on by the Virginia State Bar's Conference of Local Bar Associations in March 19 in Abingdon, here is the registration form. For some inscrutable reason, I can't find the itinerary online, but I have a printed copy in my hand, and it says that Justice Cynthia Kinser of the Virginia Supreme Court, Judge James C. Turk of the W.D. Va., Judge C. Randall Lowe of the 28th Circuit, Judge Suzanne Fulton from Wise and Judge Talevi from Roanoke will be on the panel in the afternoon, and James McCauley from the VSB (who has this ethics website) and Paul Fletcher of Virginia Lawyers Weekly.

Tennessee insurance commissioner sues ROA in W.D. Tenn. for ANLIR, et al.

Tennessee's Insurance Commissioner, Paula Flowers, has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, on behalf of American National Lawyers Insurance Reciprocal ("ANLIR") and others against the Reciprocal of America and others, seeking recovery for alleged "racketeering, fraud, unjust enrichment, misappropriation of funds and negligence," according to this report. Here is the Insurance Commissioner's press release. Here is the complaint.

Earlier, the receiver of ROA filed suit against many of these same persons and institutions, in the E.D. Va.

Straight from the Hokie huddle

This commentary from the Virginia Tech paper says "Homosexuals already have equal rights for marriage."

I compare this to the most profound thing I ever wrote in my college newspaper days, which was that the Coach was justified in benching Don Majkowski after the quarterback walked into a roomful of coaches in a bar after curfew. (Hey, it was even reprinted in the Maryland Diamondback, before Scott Secules started in place of Majik and won the game anyhow.)

When sobriety is not enough

Under the headline, "Woman accused of using 10-year-old daughter as designated driver," this story from the Kingsport paper (registration required) describes the criminal charges facing a Northeast Tennessee woman "stemming from allegations that she used her 10-year-old daughter as a designated driver last week because she was too intoxicated to drive."

Washington Times - don't let the Senate raise Virginia taxes

This opinion from the Washington Times asks the House of Delegates to just say no to the tax-raisers in the Virginia Senate.

One of the interesting things about the tax debate is that former Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (born in 1914), has endorsed the Governor Warner plan. Senator Byrd last ran for office in 1976, his second term as an independent. He had a nice cardinal cartoon on his bumper stickers. I was then in the sixth grade. Back then, the Commonwealth had a dynamic duo of senators, Byrd and William Scott.

The Bristol article in Virginia Business

I love this article about Bristol and the BVU fiber-to-the-home project, from the Virginia Business magazine.

Increase in state minimum wage law rejected

The Senate rejected a proposed increase in the state's minimum wage, as reported here ("Minimum-wage bill rejected," 2/10/2004) in the Richmond paper.

House of Delegates votes General Assembly out of FOIA

Incredibly, the House of Delegates voted 52-48 to add new protections from applicability of the FOIA open meeting laws for proceedings of the General Assembly, as reported here ("House puts assembly outside law," 2/10/2004) in the Richmond paper, here ("Va. House Relaxes Open Meetings Act," 2/10/2004) in the Washington Post (registration required), and here ("House votes to exempt Assembly from FOI act," 2/10/2004) in the Roanoke paper. Among the locals, Del. Kilgore voted in favor, Delegates Johnson, Stump, and Phillips voted against it. Delegate Robert Marshall voted against it. The vote count is shown here.

Why wouldn't the governor veto this? Nobody outside of General Assembly would have a good word to say for it. Heck, it's worse than a pay increase for legislators.

Governor Warner endorses Kerry

With the clock winding down before the Virginia primary, Governor Mark Warner has endorsed Senator John Kerry for the Democratic nomination, as reported here ("Virginia Governor Endorses Kerry," 2/8/2004) in the Washington Post (registration required).

W.D. Va. to get public defenders' office

The Roanoke paper reports here ("Federal public defender in works," 2/8/2004) that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia will soon have a public defenders' office, and includes Chief Judge Wilson's explanation that the criminal docket has doubled in the last 12 years.