CULPEPER—A Greene County man has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2006 slaying of his wife. An Orange County jury returned the verdict last Tuesday in the trial of 36-year-old Eric Dee Abshire. State Police found the body of 27-year-old Justine Abshire along state Route 618 in November 2006. Investigators determined the hit-and-run accident was [...]

ALEXANDRIA—A Manassas woman who faked the kidnapping of herself and a 1-year-old girl she had been caring for in Guatemala has been sentenced to two years in prison. Sheena Flores, 34, pleaded guilty to the extortion scheme earlier this year in federal court in Alexandria. According to court records, Flores moved to Guatemala in 2009 to care [...]

WICHITA, Kan.— A Wichita bank with 45 branches in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas is suing a small Virginia credit union that primarily serves local churches and Christian-based groups. Intrust Bank has filed a federal trademark infringement suit against Entrust Financial Credit Union, based in Richmond. Intrust claims the credit union markets itself as a nationwide financial institution [...]

Lawyers for a U.S. citizen who was detained for nearly four years as an “enemy combatant” asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate a lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other government officials. Jose Padilla’s attorneys argued last Wednesday that the officials should be held accountable for their part in his [...]

Updated: A law professor who targeted Catholic University of America over its plan to bring back same-sex dorms has filed a new complaint that criticizes the school’s treatment of Muslim students. George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf filed his complaint with the Washington, D.C., Office of Human Rights, according to the Religion News Service, Fox News, the Washington Post and a press release (PDF). Banzhaf contends the University should provide Muslim students with prayer rooms that are free of religious symbols. “It shouldn’t be too difficult somewhere on the campus for the university to set aside a small room…

A former Nixon Peabody partner claims in a lawsuit that the law firm abandoned him and he was “thrown under the bus” during an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The suit by David Tamman says the firm violated its partnership agreement when it refused to represent him in the probe of his work for NewPoint Securities, according to the Am Law Daily and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, which cites a story in the Los Angeles Daily Journal (sub. req.). "Far from supporting him," Tamman’s suit says, "his partners, with whom he had consulted and whose advice…

An audit report issued last month got a lot of press when it accused the U.S. Justice Department of spending $16 per muffin at a legal training conference in 2009. Never mind. The $16 was the cost of an entire continental breakfast that included fruit, coffee, juice and other pastries, the Washington Post reports. A revised report issued Friday by acting Justice Department Inspector General Cynthia Schnedar admits the audit erred when it concluded the DOJ spent $16 per muffin. The inspector general’s office says it reached the wrong conclusion because the Justice Department division that sponsored the event, the…

Plaintiff sued defendant substance abuse treatment facility in a medical malpractice action for the alleged negligent and unauthorized disclosure of plaintiff’s medical records. As a part of plaintiff’s alleged breach of privacy, plaintiff contended that defendant breached certain federal laws and corresponding enacting regulations found in 42 C.F.R. Part 2 as well as HIPAA (45 [...]

Defendant represented plaintiff Whyard in her divorce. He never pursued pendente lite spousal support, failed to designate any experts, was deficient in his discovery efforts and took no depositions. He convinced Whyard to accept a settlement one business day before trial, which gave her less of the marital estate than she would have likely received [...]

At 1:00 a.m. on Nov. 28, 2008, plaintiff’s decedent, a 64-year-old female, presented to the emergency department of Hampton Sentara Careplex with a three-day history of chest and back pain and shortness of breath. She also had complaints of abdominal discomfort. Two weeks prior, the patient had undergone arthroscopic knee surgery on her left [...]