The VLW Blog

To the catalogue of actionable statements in the work place, employment lawyers can add a transit company executive’s statement to a plaintiff’s supervisor, alleging receipt of a client complaint against the plaintiff.

Pro se plaintiff Emmett Jafari worked for Greater Richmond Transit Company for two years beginning in February 2006, according to Jafari v. Old Dominion Transport Mgmt. Co. Jafari alleged that after he returned from “illness due” to “harassment practices,” the company terminated him. He sued for ERISA violations and defamation.

Jafari alleged that in October 2007, a transit company executive told Jafari’s supervisor the executive had received a complaint that Jafari had apparently told a client, “if you have something to say, then say it to my face.” Jafari said he never made the statement and the executive refused to produce a copy of the client complaint when Jafari’s supervisor requested it.

The statement from the executive to the supervisor that a client had submitted a complaint stating plaintiff had “told a client, if you have something to say, then say it to my face,” represents a statement of fact that, if false, could constitute defamation, said Richmond U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer in his Nov. 28 opinion denying a motion to dismiss the defamation claim.

And although the executive and the supervisor “shared a duty to monitor or manage Plaintiff’s work performance” that supported a qualified privilege against a defamation claim, Jafari had pleaded common-law malice that could overcome a qualified privilege, the judge said.

With only a state-law claim surviving the motion to dismiss, Spencer remanded the case to Richmond Circuit Court.
By Deborah Elkins

Three more judges have announced that they will retire next year rather than seek appointment to another term.

General District Judge Norman deV. Morrison of Clarke County and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Judges James Bailey Robeson of
Prince William County and Philip Arthur Wallace of Lynchburg have notified the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Division of Legislative Services of their retirement plans.

They are in addition to at least 11 other judges who had announced their retirements. Five of them, including Court of Appeals Judge Jean Harrison Clements, had reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Judges up for reappointment will be interviewed Dec. 11 by members of the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees.

By Alan Cooper

Let there be no doubt: an election recount is a legal event.

As noted on the Democrat Central blog, there are no less than eight lawyers and judges involved in the recount of Tom Perriello’s apparent victory over incumbent Rep. Virgil Goode in Virginia’s fifth Congressional district.

For Goode, lawyers Lee Goodman and Chris Ashby of LeClair Ryan were in attendance for an initial meeting this morning in Goochland County Circuit Court.  Perriello was represented by Ed Lowry of Charlottesville, Maya Eckstein of Richmond and Jack Young from Washington, D.C.

On the bench, presiding Judge Timothy K. Sanner of Louisa will be joined by Judge Jane Roush of Fairfax and Judge Richard Taylor of Richmond.

The next hearing is set for Dec. 12 with the actual recount scheduled for Dec. 16 and 17.

By Peter Vieth

A second-year law student will be among the 13 Virginia electors when they gather in Richmond on Dec. 15 to formally vote Virginia for the Obama-Biden ticket.  As noted by the law school at the College of William & Mary, Christia V. Rey will represent the first Congressional district

“George Wythe would be very proud of Chris,” said William & Mary president Taylor Reveley.

By Peter Vieth

Same judge, different lawyer, still contempt.

The Virginia Court of Appeals today upheld a second contempt citation by former Norfolk Circuit Judge Charles D. Griffith Jr. for a lawyer who assumed that a continuance would be granted as a matter of course.

The unpublished opinion, Zedd v. Commonwealth, was hardly surprising in light of Singleton v. Commonwealth, a published opinion in October with similar facts.

In Singleton, a defense attorney and a prosecutor agreed to a continuance, and the attorney excused his client and did not appear himself when the case was called. Griffith found him in contempt of court and fined him $250.

In Zedd, the defense attorney called the prosecutor to ask for a continuance in the de novo appeal of a reckless driving case. The prosecutor agreed because the trooper could not appear anyway because of personal reasons.

The defense attorney appeared on the scheduled date but had told his client that he did not need to appear. Griffith found him in contempt for doing so.The Zedd panel said Singleton controlled the result. That Zedd showed up on the trial date, while neither the attorney nor the client was present in Singleton, is “a distinction without a difference,” the panel said.

The affirmance nothwithstanding, the contempt citations were the kinds of rulings that prompted grumbling about Griffith and contributed to the refusal of the General Assembly in January to reappoint him to a second eight-year term.

By Alan Cooper

Williamsburg attorney Alvin P. Anderson died Friday, Nov. 28, at age 60.

Mr. Anderson was a member of the executive committee at the law firm of Kaufman & Canoles, where chairman William R. Van Buren III said that he will be greatly missed.  “Alvin was a critical member of our leadership team and a respected and prominent figure in the Bar and our community,” said Van Buren in a note on the firm’s Web site.

Mr. Anderson’s practice concentrated on land use and eminent domain matters, according to Van Buren.  Mr. Anderson had recently been named to head the land use practice group at Kaufman & Canoles.

Van Buren said that Mr. Anderson died from complications related to recent surgery.

Mr. Anderson earned both his law (1972) and undergraduate degrees (1970) from the College of William and Mary, where he later served on the Board of Visitors, according to the school’s alumni office.  He was a former president of William & Mary’s Society of the Alumni, according to the firm’s Web site.

Mr. Anderson was a member of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, and the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference.  He had chaired both the Judicial Nominations Committee of the Virginia State Bar and the District Ethics Committee of the Virginia State Bar.  He also was recognized as a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation.

Mr. Anderson served as both Commissioner in Chancery and Commissioner of Accounts for the Circuit Court of the City of Williamsburg and the County of James City.

Mr. Anderson’s funeral will be held Friday, Dec. 5 at 2:30 p.m. at the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church located at 215 Richmond Road.

By Peter Vieth

The Washington Post reports that ICE agents will use video equipment at the Fairfax jail to interview and screen illegal immigrants for possible deportation.

The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office had recently been rejected by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for training and authorization to process illegal immigrants into the federal immigration system.

However, Sheriff Stan G. Barry insists the video teleconferencing arrangement will be better because it will not require the county to devote staff members, funding or jail space to the program.

“It looks like it will be a win-win situation, in that we will be able to identify illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Fairfax County and get them in the process of deportation, and it won’t cost Fairfax County a dime,” Barry said.

An opinion by Virginia’s attorney general may cast a shadow over so-called “chemical trespass” ordinances being considered by localities for protection against uranium mining.

“It is my opinion that a Virginia locality may not enact an ordinance that preempts or nullifies state or federal law, and that such an ordinance would be unconstitutional,” Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell said in a Nov. 14 opinion.

The four-page opinion stated that county and municipal ordinances must be consistent with the laws of the commonwealth.

According to the Star-Tribune, Halifax became the first locality in Virginia to adopt such an ordinance in an effort to protect the county from Virginia Uranium Inc.’s plans to mine a huge uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County.

The Virginia State Bar has suspended the license of former Norfolk Circuit Judge Alfred M. Tripp, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

The University of Virginia law school is hosting a blog just for law students hoping to land a judicial clerkship.  Much of the advice on the first post at The ‘Shipping News would be well taken by anyone looking for work.