MEMORANDUM OPINION T.S. ELLIS, III, District Judge. This dispute between a borrower and several mortgage lenders is yet another case in the flood of litigation spawned by the collapse of the housing market. At issue here on summary judgment is whether any of the remaining lenders is a "debt collector" under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq. ("FDCPA"). Also at issue is whether the borrower's claims pursuant to the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. 1601 et...
OPINION AND ORDER ROBERT G. DOUMAR, Senior District Judge. This matter comes before the Court upon Defendants' Olsen Fine Home Building, LLC, Beverly Olsen, Boathouse Creek Graphics, Inc., Rick J. Rubin, and Jennifer L. Rubins (collectively "Defendants") Motions for Summary Judgment. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiff Charles W. Ross Builder, Inc.'s ("Plaintiff) Amended Complaint, which alleges violations of the Federal Copyright Act, 28 U.S.C. 101, et seq., the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION T.S. ELLIS, III, District Judge. After suffering serious injuries in an automobile accident. Boris Eltsefon and Tamara Aderkas (collectively "plaintiffs"), a retired married couple, allegedly accepted defendant insurance company's offer to settle their claims against defendant's insured. Later, when defendant allegedly reneged on the settlement, plaintiffs brought this action solely against defendant in state court, claiming (i) breach of oral agreement, (ii) fraud, and (...
MEMORANDUM OPINION JOHN A. GIBNEY, JR., District Judge. This matter is before the Court on the motion to dismiss filed by defendants HSBC Mortgage Corp. ("HSBC") and Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") (collectively, "Defendants"). In this case, the plaintiff, Elnora Parham ("Parham"), seeks to rescind a mortgage transaction under the federal Truth-in-Lending Act ("TILA") and recover statutory damages and attorney's fees. Defendants contend that Parham's basis to rescind the...
MEMORANDUM ORDER JOHN A. GIBNEY, JR., District Judge. THIS MATTER is before the Court on the United States' motion to dismiss the third-party claims of Paragon Commercial Bank ("Paragon") and Lynn L. Tavenner (the "Trustee"), the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for the estate of defendant-Justin G. French (Dk. No. 46). Paragon and the Trustee filed claims to assets forfeited by the defendant, under 21 U.S.C. 853(n), in United States v. Justin Glynn French, No. 3:11cr017 (E.D. Va....
ORDER ROBERT E. PAYNE, Senior District Judge. By Order entered herein on May 2, 2011, the pending DEFENDANTS' AMENDED RULE 12(b)(1) MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 7) and DEFENDANTS' AMENDED RULE 12(b)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 9) were referred to Magistrate Judge M. Hannah Lauck for report and recommendation. Having reviewed the REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION of the Magistrate Judge (Docket No. 30) entered herein on August 25, 2011, and there being no timely filed objections thereto, and the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION (Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendants' Motions to Dismiss, and Denying Plaintiff's Motion to Stay) HENRY E. HUDSON, District Judge. This is a civil rights and wrongful death action filed by Jack Newbrough ("Plaintiff), Administer of the Estate of Guido Newbrough ("Newbrough"), against the Piedmont Regional Jail Authority ("PRJA") and various employees thereof; several unknown U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") agents; and the United States of...
MEMORANDUM OPINION JOHN A. GIBNEY, JR., District Judge. This matter is before the Court on a motion to dismiss and cross-motions for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 56. In this case, the plaintiff, Patricia Moore-King ("Moore-King"), challenges the zoning ordinance, business license tax ordinance, and fortune teller permit ordinance through which Chesterfield County regulates fortune teller businesses. Moore-King alleges that these ordinances violate...
OPINION AND FINAL ORDER REBECCA BEACH SMITH, District Judge. This matter comes before the court on the following motions: the United States of America's Motion for Summary Judgment Pursuant to F.R.C.P. 56 and Distribution of Sale Proceeds ("Motion"); Austal USA LLC's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment ("Austal's Cross-Motion"); and Hornblower Marine Services, Inc. and HMS-Hawaii, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment to Set Priority of Claims ("Hornblower and HMS's Cross-Motion"). For the...
ORDER RAYMOND A. JACKSON, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Evanston Insurance Company's ("Plaintiff or "Evanston") Motion for Summary Judgment. The motion has been fully briefed and is ripe for disposition. I. FACTS A. The Three Underlying Lawsuits The dispute in the above-captioned case concerns three lawsuits (the "Underlying Lawsuits") filed by Defendants Jason Dunaway, Lisa Dunaway, Michelle Germano, Dennis Jackson, and Sharon Jackson (collectively, the "...
MEMORANDUM OPINION (Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6)) HENRY E. HUDSON, District Judge. Plaintiff Jonathan Bolls is before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia once again seeking relief for the failure of the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners to provide him with his answers to the July 2008 Virginia Bar Examination, which he failed to pass. As the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners (the "Board") points out, Plaintiffs...
ORDER T.S. ELLIS, III, District Judge. Because the complaint in this removed state wrongful death case shows on its face a lack of diversity of citizenship among the parties, two threshold jurisdictional questions are presented. First, whether it is permissible—after a removal has occurred—to realign the parties to produce the required diversity. Second, whether the requested party realignment is appropriate under the principles governing party realignment. Both questions are properly...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ROBERT E. PAYNE, Senior District Judge. This matter is before the Court after a bench trial conducted on July 18, 2011, on the issue of damages and prejudgment interest on Count I of the THIRD AMENDED COMPLAINT (Docket No. 121) ("TAC"). Before trial, the parties stipulated to the amount of covered Count I claims as of May 31, 2011, as being $34,152,634. 1 The parties also stipulated that, if prejudgment interest is found to be available and appropriate, the amount of...
MEMORANDUM OPINION (Granting Commission Defendants' Motions to Dismiss; Granting in Part and Denying in Part Federal Defendants' Motion to Dismiss) HENRY E. HUDSON, District Judge. This civil rights action arises out of events which allegedly occurred at the Richmond International Airport ("RIC") on December 30, 2010. It is presently before the Court on two separate motions to dismiss, one by Janet Napolitano ("Napolitano"), John Pistole ("Pistole"), Rebecca Smith ("Smith"), and Terri Jones...
Memorandum Opinion LIAM O'GRADY, District Judge. This case involves telemarketing phone calls Plaintiff Mantian Zhu received in July 2009, where the callers allegedly identified themselves as salespersons representing the Dish Network trying to sell the company's services. Plaintiff Zhu, who was registered on the National Do Not Call registry, alleges that Defendant DISH Network, LLC caused the calls to be made in violation of the Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act (VTPPA). VA.CODE...
CLAIM CONSTRUCTION MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER LEE, District Judge. THIS MATTER is before the Court for claim construction. (Dkt. No. 182, 189.) This case concerns a component of perfume fragrance packaging called the invisible dip tube, a tubing product that transports the fragrance from the bottle to the sprayer. The invisible dip tube virtually disappears when immersed in liquid. The Court concludes that there are seven terms requiring claim construction because their constructions are...
ORDER ANTHONY J. TRENGA, District Judge. Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Doc. No. 9). For the reasons stated herein, that motion is DENIED. The parties entered into a subcontract agreement pursuant to which Defendant Jefferson Contracting Corp. ("Jefferson" or "Defendant") hired Plaintiff ATCS International LLC ("ATCS" or "Plaintiff") to evaluate various infrastructure utilities and prepare certain technical drawing called Composite Shop Drawing ("...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ROBERT E. PAYNE, Senior District Judge. This matter is before the Court, following a bench trial, on SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.'s ("ST") affirmative defense to Count IV of DEFENDANT UNITED GUARANTY RESIDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH CAROLINA, INC.'S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFFS' [sic] AMENDED COMPLAINT AND COUNTERCLAIM (Docket No. 47) ("Counterclaim"). 1 For the reasons set forth below, ST has met its burden on the affirmative defense (alternatively, "first material breach...
MEMORANDUM OPINION LIAM O'GRADY, District Judge. On November 2, 2010, Plaintiff Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Inc. ("Wells Fargo") initiated a breach of contract action against five defendants. The matter now comes before this Court on Wells Fargo's Motion for Judgment against two of those defendants, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company ("State Farm Fire") and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ("State Farm Auto") (collectively "State Farm"). The parties have fully briefed and...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER RAYMOND A. JACKSON, District Judge. This matter stems from ActiveVideo Networks, Inc.'s ("ActiveVideo") claims against Verizon Communications Inc., Verizon Services Corp., Verizon Virginia Inc., and Verizon South Inc. (collectively, "Verizon"), alleging that Verizon has infringed five patents, in violation of 35 U.S.C. 271(a)-(c), by making, using, providing, offering to sell, and/or selling within the United States interactive television systems, devices, and/...
