Nick Hurston

2 weeks ago | nclawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

SUMMARY4th Circuit upheld $3.8M fee award for Montgomery Park in long-running lease dispute. Court found defense and counterclaims shared a “common core of facts.”Demand for fees under lease deemed valid through litigation motion. Case remanded for recalculation of $1.6M in interest based on timing of demand.

2 weeks ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

A terminated employee may amend their religious discrimination complaint although their accommodation request following their employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate neither explicitly referenced religion nor connected their stated beliefs to any specific faith practices. A magistrate of the Western District Court of Virginia recommended that the court grant the employer’s motion to dismiss because the proposed amended complaint would be futile. But U.S. District Judge Robert S.

3 weeks ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

A foreign company’s emails, phone calls, wire transfers and mailings to Virginia residents were insufficient to establish that it purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting business in Virginia, a per curiam panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held. The plaintiffs appealed the district court’s dismissal of their complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, asserting that the defendant’s numerous communications with them showed sufficient contact with Virginia.

1 month ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded a case in which three unhappy West Virginia customers sued their internet service provider but attempted to evade their arbitration obligations. Incongruous with the parties’ claims, the district court found that the matter was controlled by an earlier version of the arbitration agreement. Based on that determination, the court denied the defendants’ motions to compel arbitration.

1 month ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

Human embryos may not be partitioned under Virginia Code § 8.01-83 or § 8.01-93, despite earlier statements by a judge to the contrary, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge has found in an issue of first impression. Unable to agree on how to distribute two frozen embryos after failing to address the matter during their divorce, the wife sought relief with a partition suit. The court granted reconsideration of the issue after demurrer and conducted extensive research. Judge Dontaé L.