Menu
Becoming effective in July of 2020, the Virginia Human Rights act drastically changed employment law in Virginia. Prior to the law in 2020, the Human Rights Act contained a very limited private right of action against employment discrimination. The previous law allowed for an employer to bring a cause of action against an employer for unlawful discharge on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, or childbirth or related medical conditions. This law applied only to businesses…
Read More
A reckless driving charge in Virginia is not merely a moving violation or a simple speeding ticket. This is because Virginia makes reckless driving a criminal offense, and more specifically, a class one misdemeanor. For context, class one misdemeanors are the most serious misdemeanors in Virginia. They are punishable by up to 12 months in jail and also carry the potential of up to a $2,500 fine. Other examples of class one misdemeanors include petit larceny, assault and battery, and…
Read More
In the ongoing annals of the trucking industry’s running battle against the asphalt piracy of excessive towing charges, all too often owner-operators of heavy trucks get caught in the cross-fire. The scenario is not unusual: an owner-operator of a truck is under contract with a trucking company to haul a load of cargo, and while en route his truck becomes mechanically disabled. The disablement might be the result of a mechanical breakdown or some other problem with the engine or…
Read More
Allison F. Rienecker, an associate at Setliff Law, has been elected as the Chair of the Richmond Bar Association Young Lawyers Section (RBA YLS) for the 2021-2022 bar year. The YLS has nearly 400 attorneys and includes all RBA members under age 40 or within their first 5 years of practice. The section regularly organizes meetings, socials, service and volunteer projects, pro bono and networking opportunities, and sponsors a kickball and dodgeball team for its members. As Chair of the…
Read More
Like the dinosaurs, the Reptile Theory seems to freely roam the earth for years and years. Also like the dinosaurs, it is a favorite topic of articles and debate. For the cave people who are scratching their heads grunting, “Huh? What?”, the Reptile Theory is a legal strategy popularized by David Ball and Don C. Keenan in “Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff’s Revolution.” It is a how-to for obtaining large jury verdicts based on neurological principals based on…
Read More
In general, employees in Virginia are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits regardless of who is to blame for the accident. That means, with few exceptions, the negligence of any party involved in a workers’ compensation case is irrelevant to the award of benefits. Common sense, however, would dictate that if employees aren’t following “the rules” when the accident occurs, then they should not be awarded benefits. Virginia codified this commonsense rule in Virginia Code Section 65.2-306, which provides that compensation…
Read More
C. Stephen Setliff, partner and owner of Setliff Law, was recently recognized by Best Lawyers as the 2022 "Lawyer of the Year" for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the "Lawyer of the Year," making this accolade particularly significant. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer review assessments. Receiving this designation reflects the high level of…
Read More
On June 1, 2021, Nike successfully obtained Federal trademark registration on the silhouette of its iconic Air Jordan 1 sneaker. This may be surprising to readers for one of two reasons. First, you may be asking “wait, the Air Jordan 1 is so iconic, wasn’t it already trademarked?” The answer to this is… yes, and no. Backing up a second, let’s start by addressing what exactly a trademark is. In colloquial terms, trademark protection is a way for companies to…
Read More
Imagine that your employee happens to be at a work site in the course of his job, doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing, alongside workers employed by other companies who similarly are working diligently. Now let’s say that your employee is using a piece of equipment that malfunctions in such a way that it causes injuries, not just to your employee but to some of the other workers nearby. You perform a preliminary investigation in accordance with your…
Read More
© 2026 Setliff Law, P.C.| View Our Disclaimer | Privacy Policy