The Laconic Law Blog

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, awards attorneys’ fees and costs to the employer on a breach of contract claim brought on the basis of an employment agreement that was terminated.  A copy of the opinion is here.

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Magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia recently issued an opinion holding that ex parte communications between the plaintiff’s attorney and the former human relations manager of the defendant were ethically proper under the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct.  The case is Bryant v. Yorktowne Cabinetry, Inc., 538 F.Supp.2d 948 (W.D.Va. 2008).  A copy of the opinion is here.  It contains a good discussion of the current state of the law regarding ex parte communications with former employees in Virginia.

The story is here.  The interesting twist on the case is that the assisted living facility ran a criminal background check on the alleged assailant when he was hired, but claims that what showed up would not have led a reasonable employer to conclude that he would sexually assault residents.  In most negligent hiring cases, the allegation is that the employer failed to conduct any kind of background or reference check at all.

In an update on our earlier post on the “Reverend” discrimination case, Andrews v. Virginia Union University, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied the University’s motion for summary judgment as to almost all of Rev. Andrews’ claims, allowing them to proceed to trial.  The Court’s memorandum opinion is here.

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In George v. Commonwealth, Court of Appeals Virginia, Record No. 0332-06-4 (Jan. 15, 2008), the Virginia Court of Appeals found that an employer that withheld taxes from employee paychecks but did not pay the Commonwealth the withheld taxes was guilty of embezzlement.

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A case from 2007 shows that the tort of negligent retention is alive and well in Virginia.  That case — Crump v. Morris — resulted in a jury verdict of $3.1 million against the employer.

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In KP v. Vienna Wolftrap Hotel, 1:07-cv-00625 (E.D.Va. 11/30/2007), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Cacheris, J.) granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s age discrimination claim based on the statute of limitations. 

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In an opinion dated November 19, 2007, Andrews v. Virginia Union Univ., No. 3:07-cv-00447-REP (E.D.Va.), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied a motion to dismiss disparate treatment and failure to accommodate religious discrimination claims brought by a Baptist minister against Virginia Union University.  Rev. Gwendolyn Andrews, a Baptist minister and former chair of VUU’s Department of Social Work filed a Title VII complaint against VUU after the University did not renew her appointment as Department Chair.  The University’s decision allegedly came shortly after Andrews complained that a new University policy prohibited students and faculty from referring to her as “Reverend.”

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In an unpublished opinion dated October 23, 2007, the Virginia Court of Appeals upheld an award of wage loss compensation back to 2001 — and a 20% penalty — to a former employee who was terminated in 2002 and obtained other employment because Wal-Mart had failed to file a timely termination application.  The Workers’ Compensation Commission had sent Wal-Mart reminders as far back as 2002 to file the appropriate paperwork to terminate the award, but it never did so.