The Library

On September 12, 2013, the Supreme Court of Virginia surprised many by ruling that a motion to dismiss (demurrer) is not the proper procedure to challenge the enforceability of a noncompete agreement when a lawsuit is filed to enforce the agreement. Instead, the Court ruled that when one argues that the restrictive covenant is overbroad on its face and unenforceable as a matter of law, the court cannot issue a ruling solely on the pleadings but it must have a factual record. In Assurance Data, Inc. v. Malyevac, a unanimous Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision to grant a […]

When we think about copyright infringement, most often we think about someone copying some or all of a book or article. In the construction arena, an ever-evolving and seemingly more disputed copyright issue arises in claims related to the concept and design for buildings, including high-end homes. Recently, a custom home designer/builder (we’ll refer to that as the Plaintiff Designer) sued several defendants, including a husband and wife homeowners (we’ll refer to them as the Homeowners) in federal court in Norfolk for violations of federal copyright law. The Plaintiff Designer also sued the design firm that ultimately designed a Georgian-style […]

As part of an OSHA worksite inspection, who has a right to come onto your premises other than a federal OSHA inspector? Until recently, there were two possibilities. First, if the OSHA inspector determined there was “good cause” because of unique circumstances, a non-employee such as an industrial hygienist or safety engineer with specific expertise could be brought along. Second, if the workplace was unionized, then a union representative was allowed to accompany the OSHA inspector during the walk-around inspection. No one would ever have guessed that in a non-union worksite, an outside union agent might be permitted to accompany […]

I’ve been helping a few friends prep for their first oral arguments recently. It’s been a mutually beneficial exercise, because (1) it has forced me to think about what I do to prepare and why I do it, and (2) it reassured them that, if I can do this stuff, then anyone can. Looking back on those conversations, though, I realized that I’d forgotten to give my friends one of the most useful pieces of information: What they should actually bring with them to the argument. You see, if you argue enough appeals, you will eventually suffer every conceivable embarrassment […]