Virginia: insurance company seeks dismissal of GOP suit
The Daily Progress reports: A federal judge is set to decide this fall whether the Republican Party of Virginia’s lawsuit against its former insurance company should go to trial or be dismissed.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Dohnal heard arguments Thursday on a motion that the GOP’s lawsuit should be tossed out as groundless. Dohnal is expected to rule within weeks on motions for summary judgment from both sides in the lawsuit that an attorney for the insurance company called frivolous.
The GOP contends that the Union Insurance Co. of Lincoln, Neb., breached its contract by not covering the $750,000 the state party paid last December to 33 Virginia Democrats who sued over eavesdropping by a pair of top Republican officials on Democratic conference calls discussing redistricting.
The GOP lawsuit also seeks $200,000 for lawyers’ bills from RPV’s nine-month legal battle with Democratic legislators, who claimed the March 2002 eavesdropping violated their privacy rights. -- Judge hears motions on GOP eavesdropping suit