Nick Hurston

1 week 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.

3 weeks 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.

1 month ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

A state agency’s broad employment determination could not be challenged as the appellant’s brief failed to support its assignment of error, which was itself inconsistent with the position it took before the agency, the Supreme Court of Virginia has decided. On appeal from the agency’s determination that it was liable for a worker’s unemployment benefits, appellant Amazon Logistics sought a class-wide determination that all similar workers were independent contractors.

1 month ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

A class action alleging that a drug manufacturer, a specialty pharmacy and two health care nonprofits colluded to artificially inflate the price and dispensed quantity of a prescription drug was properly dismissed, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants’ implied misrepresentations violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and various state laws.

1 month ago | valawyersweekly.com | Nick Hurston

A city’s attempt to amend its certificate of take to reflect the return of nearly half the condemned land to its owner has been rejected by a circuit court judge who found a lack of due diligence and reasonable precision rendered the city’s actions arbitrary and not fairly debatable.