http://www.abajournal.com/news/ en Copyright 2013 2013-05-19T15:58:41-06:00 http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/4th_circuit/ A federal appeals court has reinstated the conviction of a North Carolina real estate closing attorney who faces a sentence of up to 25 years in a mortgage-fraud case. Convicted for her role in closing 210 transactions between 2000 and 2004, for which she received $235,000 in attorney fees, Victoria… Bankruptcy Law, Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Real Estate & Property Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 4th Circuit Court, States, North Carolina Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:04:05 -0500 43661.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyer_loses_ada_appeal_in_suit_claiming_she_was_fired_because_of_insomnia/ An in-house lawyer who claimed she was fired because of an inability to sleep more than four hours a night has lost her federal appeal. The Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against lawyer Victoria Anderson, who had claimed she was fired in 2007 from cable TV… Disability Law, In-house Counsel, 4th Circuit Court Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:10:51 -0500 43648.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/eeoc_sues_toys_r_us_says_company_failed_to_provide_interpreter_for_deaf_job/ Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation to workers, unless doing so would be an undue hardship. What exactly is required, in a given case, can be open to interpretation. But for a big company like Toys "R" Us there's virtually no question that… Corporate Law, Disability Law, Labor & Employment, Trials & Litigation, 4th Circuit Court, States, Maryland Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:22:54 -0500 43371.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/defense_attorneys_not_authorized_to_try_to_save_ex-client_from_execution/ A federal judge in Roanoke, Va., on Thursday nixed efforts by former defense attorneys for Robert Gleason Jr., to prevent their ex-client from being executed. Gleason, 42, has strangled two inmates and says he will kill more if he isn't put to death, reports the Associated Press.… Appellate Practice, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Trials & Litigation, 4th Circuit Court, States, Virginia Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:00:53 -0600 42302.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ag_seeks_federal_stay_of_va._court_order_to_release_capital_murder_defendan/ As a Thursday deadline nears for the Virginia to release a defendant in a capital murder case because of prosecutorial misconduct, the state's attorney general is seeking a federal appellate-court stay of a federal district judge's order to let Justin Wolfe go. Although the two sides disagree about the parameters… Appellate Practice, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Prosecutors, Legal Ethics, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, 4th Circuit Court, States, Virginia Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:32:30 -0600 42170.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/obamacare_ii_supreme_court_revives_suit_challenging_employer_insurance_mand/ Liberty University’s lawsuit challenging the Obama health care law will be heard by the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a result of action by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. Liberty Counsel is representing the university and two individuals in a challenge to the so-called “employer… Constitutional Law, Health Law, U.S. Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Court Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:55:12 -0600 41736.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/w._va._lawyer_takes_plea_in_federal_mail_fraud_case_re_159k_in_claimed_fals/ A West Virginia private practitioner accused of defrauding the state's public defender agency of $159,000 by billing for hours she did not work has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of mail fraud. Lisa A. Weese, 43, remains free on bond pending sentencing after her Tuesday plea in U.S. District… Criminal Justice, Public Defenders, White Collar Crime, Trials & Litigation, Attorney Fees, 4th Circuit Court, States, West Virginia Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:34:02 -0600 41518.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/4th_circuit_upholds_contempt_conviction_for_litigants_courtroom_f-bomb/ A federal appeals court has upheld a contempt conviction for a former inmate who used the F-word in court after a judge dismissed one of his multiple pro se lawsuits against prison officials. The Richmond-Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the contempt conviction for Robert Peoples in a… Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Judiciary, 4th Circuit Court Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:37:37 -0500 41274.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/feds_say_suspect_in_100m_scam_is_fugitive_harvard_law_grad_accused_of_takin/ Federal authorities say a Harvard Law School graduate who has been a fugitive for 25 years is in jail awaiting trial as a suspect in an unrelated case involving $100 million scam in which donations for U.S. Navy veterans were collected throughout the country. The suspect, who said his name… Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, 4th Circuit Court, States, Florida, Ohio, Virginia Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:20:36 -0500 40960.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/at_hearing_as_fatal_vision/ Still fighting his 1979 conviction for murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters in their Fort Bragg, N.C., home 42 years ago, a former U.S. Army physician who became a household name is once again in the headlines as witnesses testify about evidence and legal counsel in the notorious… Appellate Practice, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Legal History, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, Verdicts & Settlements, 4th Circuit Court, States, North Carolina Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:52:58 -0500 40851.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/suspended_s.c._lawyer_breibart_indicted_accused_of_extorting_money_from_cli/ A prominent South Carolina lawyer recently suspended from practice has been federally indicted on extortion and mail fraud charges. Richard J. Breibart is accused of bilking clients of $1.1 million by pressuring them to give him the contents of their bank and retirement accounts by telling them they or their… Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Law Firms, Partners, Solos/Small Firms, Legal Ethics, 4th Circuit Court, States, South Carolina Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:06:47 -0500 40807.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/microsoft_suit_some_malware_is_preinstalled_not_just_an_ip_issue_but_a_secu/ For years, users have been blamed when malware infects their computers and repeatedly warned not to open attachments from unknown email senders or download software from dubious sources. But a major manufacturer now says that malware sometimes is already preinstalled when purchasers first open the packaging of their new computers.… Corporate Law, International Law, Internet Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 4th Circuit Court, States, Virginia Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:09:08 -0500 40707.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/documentary_filmmaker_errol_morris_writes_about_jeffrey_macdonald_case_afte/ Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris helped free a convicted murderer after his film, The Thin Blue Line, suggested there had been a miscarriage of justice. Now Morris has turned his attention to Jeffrey MacDonald, the Army doctor convicted of killing his family in 1970 despite his assertion that the perpetrators were… Criminal Justice, Criminal Procedure, Trials & Litigation, 4th Circuit Court Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:33:47 -0500 40530.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/top_court_nixes_cert_petition_by_pro_se_lawyer_objecting_to_public_admoniti/ The nation's top court has rejected without comment a pro se petition for a writ of certiorari by a New York lawyer publicly admonished by a federal appeals court for his handling of a South Carolina criminal identity theft and wire fraud case. Called out for what the Richmond, Va.-based… Appellate Practice, Constitutional Law, Legal Ethics, Trials & Litigation, U.S. Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Court, States, New York, South Carolina Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:29:52 -0500 40461.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/freed_after_12_years_aided_by_moms_paralegal_work_va._man_like_da_wants_rea/ More than a decade after being wrongly convicted of an elderly woman's murder, Michael Wayne Hash left the Culpeper County, Va., courthouse Monday a free man, with the case against him finally dismissed. Now 31, Hash has something in common–in addition to a belief that the case against him wasn't… Appellate Practice, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 4th Circuit Court, States, Virginia Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:17:36 -0500 40353.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/appeals_court_affirms_vacation_conviction_death_sentence_murder-for-hire/ A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court ruling vacating the conviction and death sentence of a Virginia man in a 2001 murder-for-hire scheme. The lower court found that prosecutors had suppressed evidence and knowingly used false testimony against Justin Wolfe, who has spent 11 years on Virginia's death… Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Prosecutors, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Trials & Litigation, 4th Circuit Court Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:11:59 -0500 40285.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/4th_circuit_agrees_to_hear_pregnancy_center_case_en_banc/ The Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear en banc a case involving a law that requires anti-abortion pregnancy centers to post ads encouraging clients to consult with medical professionals. The court set a Dec. 6 oral argument date for the rehearing after a divided… Appellate Practice, Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Health Law, Religious Law, 4th Circuit Court, States, Maryland Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:28:51 -0500 40283.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/food_blogger_sues_says_nc_license_requirement_violates_his_1st_amendment/ Steve Cooksey enjoyed giving advice as a nutrition blogger, until the state of North Carolina got into the picture. By telling others what to eat on his Diabetes Warrior blog, he was breaking a criminal law that requires providers of "nutrition care services” to be licensed, he… Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Consumer Law, Internet Law, Media & Communications Law, Trials & Litigation, 4th Circuit Court, States, North Carolina Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:51:13 -0500 40070.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge_who_overruled_feds_nix_on_naturalization_app_will_personally_administ/ In an unusual outright rejection of a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services decision about a naturalization petition, a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., last month said, in a 90-page opinion, that there was no basis to deny citizenship to Jamal Abusamhadaneh on character grounds. Although the USCIS claimed Abusamhadaneh had… Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Immigration Law, Judiciary, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 4th Circuit Court, States, Virginia Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:50:17 -0500 39883.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/doj_drops_rest_of_case_against_john_edwards/ Essentially admitting defeat after a federal jury last month acquitted former Sen. John Edwards on one count in a campaign-fraud case and deadlocked on five others, the U.S. Department of Justice has decided not to retry the onetime Democratic presidential candidate. Edwards had been accused of using $1 million in… Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Election Law, Trials & Litigation, 4th Circuit Court, States, North Carolina Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:08:43 -0500 39252.abajournal.com