MEMORANDUM OPINION ELIZABETH K. DILLON , District Judge . Jacob Doe was a student at defendant Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) who alleges that he was wrongfully accused of domestic violence and was unfairly sanctioned by Virginia Tech. Doe has named as defendants Virginia Tech and individual employees of Virginia Tech who were involved in his disciplinary proceedings. 2 This matter is before the court on defendants' motions to dismiss pursuant to...
ORDER ROBERT S. BALLOU , Magistrate Judge . Before me are Plaintiff's Motion to Reconsider Magistrate Judge's Discovery Order of January 23, 2020 (Dkt. 83) 1 and Defendant Tyler Staffing Services, Inc. d/b/a Chase Professionals ("Chase")'s Motion to Seal Privileged Documents, Claw Back Privileged Documents, and for Order Finding no Waiver of Privilege (Dkt. 85). Plaintiff asks that I reconsider my earlier decision to permit some limited discovery regarding documents which Chase may have...
MEMORANDUM OPINION PAMELA MEADE SARGENT , Magistrate Judge . I. Background and Standard of Review Plaintiff, Chassidy A. Covey, ("Covey"), filed this action challenging the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, ("Commissioner"), determining that she was not eligible for supplemental security income, ("SSI"), under the Social Security Act, as amended, ("Act"), 42 U.S.C.A. 1381 et seq . (West 2012 & Supp. 2019). Jurisdiction of this court is pursuant to 42 U.S.C....
MEMORANDUM OPINION PAMELA MEADE SARGENT , Magistrate Judge . I. Background and Standard of Review Plaintiff, Tony C. Osborne, ("Osborne"), filed this action challenging the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, ("Commissioner"), denying his claims for disability insurance benefits, ("DIB"), and supplemental security income, ("SSI"), under the Social Security Act, as amended, ("Act"), 42 U.S.C.A. 423 and 1381 et seq. (West 2011, West 2012 & Supp. 2019). Jurisdiction...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ELIZABETH K. DILLON , District Judge . Plaintiff moves for leave to proceed under the pseudonym "Jacob Doe." For the following reasons, the court holds that his privacy interest outweighs the presumption of openness in judicial proceedings. It will thus grant the motion. I. BACKGROUND Plaintiff filed his complaint, under the pseudonym Jacob Doe, against defendants Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Timothy Sands, Frank Shushok, Jr.,...
OPINION AND ORDER JAMES P. JONES , District Judge . The plaintiff, Eugene V. Smalls, Sr., a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se, filed this civil rights action under 28 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that he had not received appropriate medical care and accommodation for his disabilities as a paraplegic at Wallens Ridge State Prison ("Wallens Ridge"). The defendants have filed dispositive motions that will be separately addressed. Before me today is Smalls' motion seeking preliminary injunctive...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MICHAEL F. URBANSKI , Chief District Judge . Jason Ramon Jordan, a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se , filed an amended complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that defendant Dr. Ellison McDuffie denied him mental health treatment and retaliated against him. On September 28, 2018, the court entered an opinion denying Dr. McDuffie's motion to dismiss, ECF No. 29. Dr. McDuffie filed a motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 42, and Jordan has replied. Having...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ELIZABETH K. DILLON , District Judge . Defendant Herbert Lee Childs (Childs) moves to vacate his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2255. (Dkt. Nos. 48, 48-1.) In response, the government filed a motion to dismiss Childs's petition as untimely. (Mot. Dismiss, Dkt. No. 51.) For the reasons below, the court denies Childs's motion and grants the government's motion to dismiss. I. BACKGROUND On May 19, 2016, a Roanoke grand jury indicted Childs for three counts of...
MEMORANDUM OPINION PAMELA MEADE SARGENT , Magistrate Judge . I. Background and Standard of Review Plaintiff, David L. Martin, ("Martin"), filed this action challenging the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, ("Commissioner"), denying his claims for disability insurance benefits, ("DIB"), and supplemental security income, ("SSI"), under the Social Security Act, as amended, ("Act"), 42 U.S.C.A. 423 and 1381 et seq. (West 2011, West 2012 & Supp. 2019). Jurisdiction...
OPINION JAMES P. JONES , District Judge . In this appeal from an order of the Bankruptcy Court, the appellants were legal counsel for certain unsecured creditors who sought an award from the debtor's estate of an additional or "enhanced" fee from that payable by their clients, based on their contention that their efforts substantially enlarged the estate's distribution payable to all unsecured creditors and thus they were eligible for such a fee under the "common fund" theory. The...
MEMORANDUM OPINION PAMELA MEADE SARGENT , Magistrate Judge . I. Background and Standard of Review Plaintiff, Henry Edward Jewell, ("Jewell"), filed this action challenging the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, ("Commissioner"), denying his claims for disability insurance benefits, ("DIB"), and supplemental security income, ("SSI"), under the Social Security Act, as amended, ("Act"), 42 U.S.C.A. 423 and 1381 et seq. (West 2011, West 2012 & Supp. 2019)....
MEMORANDUM OPINION NORMAN K. MOON , Senior District Judge . This matter is before the Court on the Government's motion for default judgment against Defendants Laura and David Vassar ("Mrs. Vassar" and "Mr. Vassar," individually, and collectively, "the Vassars") for federal tax liabilities. Dkt. 8. In particular, the Government has moved the Court to "enter default judgment on Count I against Laura Vassar and David Vassar in the amount of $36,989.46, as of July 22, 2019, plus any statutory...
MEMORANDUM OPINION NORMAN K. MOON , Senior District Judge . Eric Craft, a federal inmate proceeding pro se, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241, in which he challenges his conviction and sentence imposed by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 2003. Respondent has moved to dismiss the petition in its entirety, arguing that this court lacks jurisdiction over it (Dkt. No. 6). Craft was given notice of his...
MEMORANDUM OPINION NORMAN K. MOON , Senior District Judge . Tyrese D. Hyles, a federal inmate proceeding pro se, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241. He was subsequently permitted to supplement his original petition, and so the petition now consists of Dkt. Nos. 1 and 6. Pending before me are a motion to dismiss filed by Respondent (Dkt. No. 10), to which Hyles has objected (Dkt. No. 12), and eight other motions filed by Hyles seeking different types...
DISMISSAL ORDER ELIZABETH K. DILLON , District Judge . Plaintiff Mayra Stump, by counsel, filed her complaint against Robert Wilkie, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, on December 21, 2018. (Compl., Dkt. No. 1.) The court sent a letter to Stump's counsel on March 5, 2019, explaining that, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m), Stump had only seventy days remaining to serve defendant before her complaint would be dismissed. (Dkt. No. 4.) On April 2, 2019, counsel...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ELIZABETH K. DILLON , District Judge . Petitioner Wesley Brian Earnest, a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se in this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254, filed a "Motion to Compel," which was docketed on August 21, 2019, asking the court to require the Bedford County Commonwealth Attorney to provide petitioner a copy of the video surveillance footage from Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia, for the dates December 19-20, 2007, and copies of search and...
ORDER ELIZABETH K. DILLON , District Judge . For the reasons set forth in the court's accompanying memorandum opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that V. Jones Trucking, LLC's (VJT) motion to dismiss plaintiff's second amended complaint (Dkt. No. 37) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. As set forth in the court's opinion, McKeown's claims against VJT of negligence, vicarious liability as a statutory employer, negligent entrustment, and negligence and negligence per se for aiding and abetting...
OPINION AND ORDER JAMES P. JONES , District Judge . The defendant has filed a pro se Motion to Reduce Sentence, in which he contends that his sentence of supervised release must be reduced to five years, rather than the ten years as recited by the court at sentencing and contained in his judgment of conviction. Tr. 67, ECF No. 359; J. 3, ECF No. 335. The defendant is mistaken. While the offense for which the defendant was convicted provides for a minimum of five years of supervised...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Elizabeth K. Dillon , United States District Judge . Plaintiff Bradley McKeown, as administrator and personal representative of the estate of Katherine McKeown, filed this action against defendants Khalil Rahim, Troy Livingston, V. Jones Trucking, LLC (VJT), and James Hardie Building Products, Inc. (Hardie), seeking damages for a vehicle collision in which a tractor-trailer driven by Rahim and owned by Livingston struck the McKeowns' vehicle, killing Bradley's wife...
OPINION JAMES P. JONES , District Judge . Petitioner, Trevor Cole, a federal inmate proceeding pro se, filed this Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2241. 1 He has also filed a Motion to Amend, which I will grant. Cole contends that one of his convictions and his sentence must be revisited in light of United States v. Wheeler , 886 F.3d 415 , 425-26 (4th Cir. 2018), cert. denied , 139 S.Ct. 1318 (2019). After review of the record and the parties' submissions, I...
