I'm taking off a few days, back next week.

Virginia's Fireman's rule does not apply to mine safety inspector

In Lockhart v. Coastal Coal Company, LLC, Judge Sargent of the W.D. Va. recommended denial of defendant's motion for summary judgment, concluding that the "Fireman's Rule" under Virginia law would not extend to protect the defendant from liability to a federal mine safety inspector who was struck by a falling rock in defendant's coal mine.

I can believe that a mine inspector is not quite the same as a fireman or police officer, but then again, what is the level of risk that a mine inspector assumes going into the mines. I would imagine that mine inspectors know quite a lot in general and might have very specific knowledge about how dangerous mines are. If the guy is there to see about the bad roof, does he assume the risk that the roof will hurt him? Then again, the inspector might say that the roof looked pretty good the last time he was in there.

Loudoun case to decide law firm liability for death caused by employee's driving

This law.com article discusses the pending case to be tried soon in Loudoun County to decide the liability of a major law firm for a fatal automobile accident allegedly caused by a lawyer driving down the road talking on a cell phone.

For more articles on the issues of the Yoon v. Wagner case, see my post of July 1.

Tech also denies rejecting applicant because of immigration status

Like George Mason, Virginia Tech denies that it has refused admission based on immigration status to anyone, much less the so-far anonymous plaintiffs in the lawsuit brought earlier this month, as reported here in the Tech student paper.

Tennessee home schoolers repeat as mock trial champions

This article describes the repeat victory of a mock trial team of homeschoolers from Tennessee.

Still more on the car tax

As reported here, the Commonwealth's bond rating may drop, according to Moody's, which blames in part the car tax repeal/local government subsidy scheme from the prior administration.

University settles again with professor-litigant

This Richmond Times story explains how it is that the Virginia State University had to settle a second time with the professor who won $1.64 million in damages, fees, and costs the first go round.

JLARC staff report on spending for computers in schools not accepted by legislators

The AP has this story and the Richmond paper has this story on a staff report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that says the state government is not spending enough on computers in schools, and the response of legislators who says it's not so.

How to be an insurance defense lawyer

The Insurance Defense blog has this post about an IADC publication, the "Practical Guide for Insurance Defense Lawyers."

Sanctions for violating Rule 412

Rule 412 of the Federal Rules of Evidence limits the use of evidence about sexual behavior. This post from Out-of-the-Box Lawyer discusses a Ninth Circuit opinion upholding an award of sanctions under the trial court's "inherent power" and 28 U.S.C. § 1927 for both attorneys' fees and emotional distress against the defendant's attorneys (I think) for introducing evidence about the plaintiff in violation of Rule 412 - but the opinion also holds that the misuse of the Rule 412 evidence was not grounds for a mistrial.

Righting the Ship

If I hadn't come back to Southwest Virginia, this might be the South-Central Pennsylvania blog, where I went to high school and where I worked one summer for the Barley Snyder firm, which grown by more than 100% since that brief time when I was there. Anyhow, a number of my high school classmates (including my friend Horning whose company made me undo the unauthorized link to its website and who made something of himself in spite of knowing people like me) went to Shippensburg University, the subject of this interesting federal court opinion striking down the student code of conduct as in violation of the First Amendment.

82% rate excused rate for venire members?

This NY Times article (registration required) says that 82% of the jury pool members who show up for jury duty do not get on a jury, in statistics from the courts of New York State.

This seems high to me, but maybe it's not. I thought that in federal court locally, for the civil cases I've seen, they call maybe 20 people, stick 13 in the box, strike 3-4 for cause, give each side three peremptories, and try the case with 7. That's a rate of 65%, by the reckoning of the Times article, which says that "the rate in federal courts across the country is about 76 percent."

Next thing - discovery of data recorders in autos

The Washington Post has this article on the data possibilities from "black boxes" in automobiles, and who might want that data - parents, police - and why not lawyers in civil cases?

Guardian decides to remove life support

Via Lawyers' Weekly, the Lynchburg paper has this account of the decision of the guardian to remove life support, where the family members could not agree on what to do, in the case of young man left in a coma because of an auto accident.

On restructuring the EEOC

Here's an article from the Washington Post on yet another restructuring of the operations of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which does essentially nothing with a great many of the charges of discrimination filed with it by individuals (as opposed to classes of individuals).

More on the alien admissions lawsuit

A George Mason University paper had this article on the lawsuit against GMU and others over the admission of illegal aliens. The article says the admissions dean at George Mason denies that he has had occasion to deny admission to any undocumented aliens.

What to eat if those bar results turn out wrong

Not that I think there is anyone who (a) reads this blog and (b) won't pass the July Bar exam, for which the results will soon be announced, but here's a thought on what to eat - General Tso's chicken. It says in this article, "Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?" that "As a young man Tso flunked the official court exams three times, a terrible disgrace. He returned home, married and devoted himself to practical studies, like agriculture and geography. He took up silkworm farming and tea farming . . . ." There it is, three rounds with the exams then silkworm farming.

Another town ordinance limiting campaign signs

This article describes the 20-day limit for campaign signs in the Town of Culpeper. The article notes that some candidates, those who had contests for the party nominations, have been sticking up signs since April.

About a week ago, I put up two signs in my yard, the only ones in the neighborhood. One of the signs is for a board of supervisors candidate, who lived next door when my family moved here in 1969. The other is for one of the candidates for Commonwealth's attorney. My wife says it's now time to take the signs down, because everyone else who lives on our cul-de-sac has already seen them plenty of times and no one else comes back where we live. She's probably right.

More on the bad blood story

The Washington Post has this additional story on the woman who died after receiving the wrong type of blood in connection with her bowel resection surgery for Crohn's disease.

Attorney General says he'll refuse to recuse in Newport News reservoir matter

Via Lawyer's Weekly, this article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch says that a Republican state delegate and other opponents of the Newport News reservoir project want Attorney General Jerry Kilgore to recuse himself from the defense of the Commonwealth in the matter because they think he favors the project and won't put up much of a fight on behalf of the state's Marine Resources Commission, which rejected the project a few months ago, a decision that is now being challenged in state court.