Search & Seizure – Traffic Stop – Drug Dog Threat
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
Police did not violate a driver’s Fourth Amendment rights when an officer stopped her pickup truck for an inoperative brake light, and after recalling that he had seen the driver the week before at a house searched for narcotics, and after she declined to consent to a search, asked “Do I have to get a [...]
Medical Malpractice – Discovery – Requests For Admission – Morphine Allergy 
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
In this suit alleging malpractice arising from administration of morphine to a patient known to be allergic to morphine, an Augusta County Circuit Court holds that defendant pharmaceutical company may not refuse to respond to plaintiff’s request for admission of expert opinion.
The problem that we now have to confront arises from the pharmaceutical defendants’ responses. [...]
Domestic Relations – Divorce – Fraud – Wife’s Residence
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
A Charlottesville Circuit Court says a husband cannot overturn a 2005 divorce decree in 2008 with husband’s after-discovered evidence alleging wife committed fraud on the court when she claimed to be living in Charlottesville in 2000, when in fact venue was proper in Hanover County, where the parties last cohabited.
Husband seeks to set aside the [...]
Real Estate – Church Property – Episcopal Church Split
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
In this dispute over church property between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the national church, and 11 breakaway congregations, a Fairfax Circuit Court resolves five specific questions the parties have addressed, in light of the court’s decision upholding application of Va. Code § 57-9 to this dispute.
Did the Supreme Court of Virginia, in Green [...]
Civil Rights – Church Property – First Amendment – Equal Protection
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
A Fairfax Circuit Court upholds the constitutionality of Va. Code § 57-9, as applied to a dispute over property claimed by both the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the national church, and 11 breakaway congregations; the statute, as applied, does not violate the First Amendment or the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause or the Fifth [...]
Zoning – Piecemeal Downzoning – Density
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
A Loudoun County Circuit Court dismisses plaintiff owner’s claims that their property, formerly zoned A-3 with a permissible base density of one dwelling unit per three acres of land, have been subjected to piecemeal downzoning by amendment to the county zoning ordinance that zoned their property A-1, which allows a base density of one dwelling [...]
Contract – Noncompete – Nonsolicitation – IT Company ‘Client’
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
A Chesterfield Circuit Court rejects plaintiff New Age Digital’s attempt to enforce a noncompete that prohibits any company director from “any type of competitive activity” anywhere within the commonwealth for one year after termination; the court likewise strikes a nonsolicitation clause that prohibits any director, for two years after departure, from soliciting any New Age [...]
Search & Seizure – High-Crime Area – Waving At Cars
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
A police officer who observed defendant near a convenience store in a high-crime area late at night, waving at cars, and who smelled alcohol on defendant and heard his slurred speech, did not violate defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights by patting him down to look for identification in order to determine if defendant had any outstanding [...]
Search & Seizure – Auto Search – Exigent Circumstances – Marijuana In Plain View
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
A detective’s search of a car was supported by probable cause, the Court of Appeals holds, developed in part pursuant to the plain view exception to the warrant requirement when the detective shone a flashlight into the car parked on a public street and observed marijuana.
The detective also knew at that time that defendant drove [...]
Criminal – Temp’s Embezzlement – Circumstantial Evidence
By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 7, 2008
The Court of Appeals affirms a temporary employee’s conviction of embezzlement, despite her claim that the commonwealth’s circumstantial evidence failed to prove the money she allegedly embezzled was actually received by the roofing company where she was working, and was not taken by someone else.
The only reasonable hypothesis flowing from the evidence, viewed in the [...]
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