The Library

Cross-examination can determine whether you win or lose your case. It’s a crucial opportunity to reinforce advantageous points and undermine problematic ones. Maintaining control of the process is key. Here are some ways to do so. Know where you are going. Organize your strategy and questions, prepare rigorously, and know what you want to accomplish with each witness. Pay close attention to the order of your questions, because jurors tend to remember the first and last things they hear the most. Always ask yourself: Is it even necessary to cross-examine this witness? Never ask open-ended questions. Ask only questions you […]

Environmental justice is rapidly evolving in Virginia. As a result, regulators are unsure of how to incorporate, or weigh, environmental justice considerations in their decision-making process. However increasingly progressive legislation and landmark judicial decisions that check the power of state’s regulatory bodies have made environmental justice not only a significant but required element in permitting decisions. Gentry Locke Environmental and Government and Regulatory Affairs attorneys Jasdeep Singh Khaira, Patrice Lewis, D. Scott Foster, and Government Affairs Specialist Abigail Thompson provide a legal update on environmental justice in Virginia within the University of Richmond Public Interest Law Review. In general, with […]

On July  15, 2020, Virginia, adopted the first in the nation COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (the “ETS”). The ETS required Virginia employers to take certain actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 infections in the workplace. On January 23, 2021, VOSH replaced the ETS with a permanent Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention (the “Permanent Standard”), which it amended in August 2021. On January 15, 2022, Governor Youngkin issued an Executive Order directing the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board (the “Board”) to convene an emergency meeting to discuss if there is an ongoing need for the Permanent Standard. The Board […]

The story is familiar. Your company has a customer that has been purchasing goods or services from your company for a long time. The customer is exhibiting signs that it is experiencing financial difficulties. The customer’s payments of the company’s invoices become slower and eventually past due.  The business relationship is valuable to both the customer and your company: the customer needs your company’s goods or services and the customer provides important revenue to your company. Neither party wishes to terminate the relationship. The financial condition of the customer continues to deteriorate and the customer resorts to the filing of […]

On July 27, 2020, Virginia was the first state to adopt a COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (the “ETS”), which required Virginia employers to take certain actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 infections in the workplace. On January 26, 2021, the VOSH ETS lapsed after its duration of six months. VOSH replaced the ETS with a permanent Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention (the “Permanent Standard”) that took effect on January 27, 2021. In response to CDC guidance issued on July 27, 2021, on August 26, 2021, VOSH adopted amendments to the Permanent Standard. The amended Permanent Standard is currently in […]

As you likely know, Federal OSHA has published its new Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that requires private employers with more than 100 employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, or require at least weekly COVID testing for unvaccinated employees, among other things.  Here is some preliminary information for employers. Basics:  The ETS was published in the Federal Register on Friday November 5, 2021.  See the link below to the OSHA Website.  OSHA has published several documents to assist including an executive summary, FAQs, and sample policies. https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2 The ETS requires that employees be fully vaccinated by January 4, 2022 or have a […]

Virginia follows the American Rule regarding attorney’s fees, which provides that parties must typically pay their own fees and costs in litigation; a prevailing litigant cannot collect its fees from the losing litigant. However, there are some exceptions. For example, a governing statute might include a fee-shifting section. Or, the litigants’ contract might include a similar clause. There is also a judicially-crafted exception that can apply in fraud cases. The exception has its roots in the case of Prospect Development Company v. Bershader, a 1999 decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia. There, the Court largely affirmed the trial court’s […]

A coal company makes a promise to a coal miner: “We will pay you $30 per ton of coal you deliver.” The coal miner then delivers the coal, but the coal company pays the miner only $15 per ton. The coal miner then sues the coal company. Does the miner have a claim for breach of contract? For fraud? Or for both? As with so many legal questions, the (maddening) answer is: it depends. Virginia law has strived to draw a distinction between contract and fraud claims, for perhaps obvious reasons. Take the facts above. The company’s failure to fulfill […]

In July of 2020, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (“DOLI”) enacted an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) setting forth workplace safety standards relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Virginia has now enacted a Final Permanent Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention: SARS-CoV-2 Virus that Causes COVID-19 (the “Permanent Standard”). The 58-page Permanent Standard, set forth in Section 16VAC25-220 of the Virginia Administrative Code, is effective as of January 27, 2021. The Permanent Standard applies to all employers in the Commonwealth, and supersedes the ETS. The Permanent Standard is based in large part on the ETS, and mandates appropriate personal protective equipment, […]