2008 October 27 | Virginia Lawyers Weekly - Part 2

Norfolk rail line to cost more, amount unknown

By News in Brief
Published: October 27, 2008

NORFOLK—Norfolk’s starter light rail line will cost more to build than projected, but officials say they can’t yet pinpoint the increases.
The rail line will run from Eastern Virginia Medical Center to the Virginia Beach border. It was budgeted at $232.1 million and planned to open in early 2010.
But Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation [...]

Fairfax approves one-day furlough around holidays

By News in Brief
Published: October 27, 2008

FAIRFAX—About 9,000 Fairfax County employees will get an extra day off without pay around the holidays.
The Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a one-day furlough for all non-essential county employees on Jan. 2. The furloughs are expected to save up to $2 million and help the county close a $58 million budget shortfall.
County Executive Anthony [...]

Chesterfield cops look into campaign sign theft

By News in Brief
Published: October 27, 2008

CHESTER—Chesterfield County police are investigating the theft of a resident’s campaign sign supporting Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency.
The 4-by-8-foot sign in the yard of a black resident was replaced by a Confederate flag.
The Obama sign was posted by 78-year-old Leroy C. McLaughlin, a Baptist minister. He reported it missing on Oct 17.
Despite the theft, [...]

House panel wants VCU to revoke unearned degree

By News in Brief
Published: October 27, 2008

A legislative committee wants Virginia Commonwealth University’s Board of Visitors to see if it can revoke a degree it granted Richmond’s former police chief that he didn’t earn.
House Appropriations Committee members on Monday asked VCU to ask its legal advisers whether the board has the power to deny wrongly awarded degrees.
The request came after a [...]

VSB Disciplinary Actions

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: October 27, 2008

On Oct. 17, a three-judge panel suspended Steven S. Biss’s license to practice law for a year and a day after a four-day hearing in the Chesterfield County Courthouse. At the end of Virginia State Bar counsel’s evidence, Biss acknowledged violations of legal ethics related to his handling of the attempted purchase of [...]

Real Estate – Church Property – Episcopal Church Split – Endowment Fund

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 27, 2008

In this dispute over property claimed by both the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the national church, and several breakaway congregations, a Fairfax Circuit Court takes under advisement a motion for partial summary judgment filed by the diocese and the national church contending that the Falls Church Endowment Fund Inc. is not subject to the [...]

Wills & Trusts – Real Estate – ‘Sold’ – Closing After Death

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 27, 2008

A parcel is not “sold” under the terms of a woman’s will where she entered into a contract to sell the parcel seven months before she died, but the sale did not close until after her death, a Norfolk Circuit Court holds.
A provision in the will stated that the testator devised her home and the [...]

Negligence – Auto Accident – Remittitur – Counseling

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 27, 2008

A woman who was taken to the emergency room and released after an auto accident, and who sought counseling for nightmares 18 months later, but continued working, has her jury verdict of $350,000 reduced to $50,000 by a Montgomery County Circuit Court.
Following the accident, plaintiff was taken by emergency vehicle to the local hospital where [...]

Domestic Relations – Custody – Wyoming Move – Traveling Parent

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 27, 2008

A Roanoke City Circuit judge says a mother’s move to Cheyenne, Wyoming with the couple’s five-year-old son is in the best interest of the child, where the father travels frequently for his job with a defense contractor.
Under the couple’s agreement incorporated into their final divorce decree, the couple has joint legal custody of the child, [...]

Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Separate Debt

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 27, 2008

The Court of Appeals reverses a final divorce decree, agreeing with husband that the trial court erred in ruling that funds borrowed from a family trust was husband’s separate debt.
In the summer of 2004, before the parties’ final separation, husband borrowed $90,000 from the Boisseau Family Trust. He used part of the money to pay [...]

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