The First Amendment protects a public employee from retaliation by his or her employer when the employee speaks out on a matter of public concern. But before discharged government employees go rushing into court to sue the government entity for which they worked, they would be well advised to take…
When entering into a contract with a party based in another state, Virginia businesses may wish to include in their agreements a clause specifying that any future disputes arising under the contract will be litigated in Virginia rather than the home state of the other party. For example, if you…
Lawyers who represent clients in litigation often assume that they can simply withdraw from the case if the client stops paying the lawyer’s bills. Engagement letters and representation agreements often provide that an attorney will withdraw in the event of nonpayment. A federal court sitting in Richmond, Virginia, however, denied…
To file a lawsuit in Virginia’s state or federal courts against a non-resident of Virginia or an out-of-state corporation, it is necessary to establish “personal jurisdiction” over the defendant. A court has no power over parties to a lawsuit absent such jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction will exist only if (1) Virginia’s…
Last Friday, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit threw out a jury verdict against Acushnet Company and vacated a permanent injunction that had prevented it from selling the Titleist Pro V1 line of golf balls that Acushnet had introduced to the market in 2000. The court ordered a…
In the consolidated cases of Bank of America Investment Services, Inc. v. Michael A. Byrd and Gregory F. Harris, Judge Davis of the Eastern District of Virginia (Norfolk division) denied Bank of America’s motion for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order seeking to enjoin its former brokers from contacting…
Faced with an issue that has not yet been decided by the Virginia Supreme Court, a federal court sitting in Roanoke, Virginia, ruled that contracting parties may not agree in advance to exempt each other from liability resulting from future intentional misconduct. To the extent parties include in their contract…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claims a Kmart Super Center in Norfolk, Virginia, fired a store greeter because he used a cane, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the EEOC…
Proving once again that no good deed goes unpunished, a former employee of BB&T Insurance Services to whom BB&T graciously paid 30 days of severance pay despite terminating his employment for cause–and apparently without requiring the employee to sign a release–sued the company for wrongful termination. On June 17, 2009,…
Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Virginians with Disabilities Act (VDA) prohibit stage agencies and public entities from discriminating against people with disabilities, or denying to them the benefits of their services, programs, or activities. On June 4, 2009, Virginia’s highest court held that the Virginia Lottery,…