Criminal – Grand Larceny – Goods Valuation – Cigarette Theft 
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses defendant’s conviction of grand larceny from a convenience store because the prosecution’s proffer of $410.59 in stolen cigarettes included not only cigarettes discovered outside the store and with defendant and his accomplice, but also included cigarette packs found on the floor inside the store.
We conclude the evidence of value [...]
Search & Seizure – Anonymous Tip – Investigative Stop – DUI Arrest
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
Although police could corroborate some elements of an anonymous tip – the driver’s shirt, the color and make of his car, a partial license plate number and his direction of travel – the tip did not predict specific criminal activity and the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses the DUI conviction.
Defendant contends the anonymous tip and [...]
Administrative – SCC – Electric Utility Rate
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
The State Corporation Commission did not err in setting an electric retail rate in an amount less than the rate requested by appellant, the Potomac Edison Company, which rates the company had sought for the purpose of recovering certain purchased power costs under Va. Code § 56-582(B)(I), the Supreme Court of Virginia says.
We focus our [...]
Negligence – FELA – ‘Close Clearance’ – Statutory Standard
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a $330,000 FELA award to a railroad worker who was injured when he was riding on the side of a railroad boxcar that was moving along a switching track, when his left upper arm struck a bent post; in the employee’s suit asserting the railroad had failed to properly [...]
Medical Malpractice – Wrongful Birth – Prenatal Testing – Dad Doctor-Patient Relationship
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
A mother who alleges defendant ob-gyn failed to inform her of a first-trimester test, chorionic villus sampling, that allegedly would have indicated that her twin daughters had Down syndrome so that she might have terminated the pregnancy, has her medical malpractice judgment against the doctor reversed by the Virginia Supreme Court because the evidence was [...]
Domestic Relations – Custody – Fugitive Father – Move To Spain
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Virginia upholds application of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine to say that a father who removed his son to Spain cannot appeal a custody decision in the Fairfax Circuit Court.
In this court, the father contends the Court of Appeals erred in applying the doctrine to his [...]
Taxation – Baptist Retirement Home – Property Tax Exemption
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
A Botetourt County property called “The Glebe,” a home for the elderly operated by the Virginia Baptist Homes Inc., is used for a religious purpose and therefore exempt from local property tax under Va. Code § 58.1-3650.33, and the circuit court decision to the contrary is reversed by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
The Virginia Baptist [...]
Criminal – Civil Commitment – Sexually Violent Predators Act – Dismissed Juvenile Charges
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
In considering commitment of Marvin Garrett as a sexually violent predator, a circuit court erred in ruling that Code § 16.1-306 as in effect in 1985 granted Garrett a vested right to the destruction of his JDR court records, which showed nolle prossed charges of carnal knowledge of a minor; but the court did not [...]
Criminal – Child Rape – Other Crimes Evidence – Rape Shield Law
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2008
At defendant’s trial for raping his stepgranddaughter for several years beginning when she was four or five and continuing for several years, the trial court did not err in excluding evidence of the girl’s accusations of abuse against her mother’s live-in boyfriend, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms defendant’s convictions of rape of a [...]
Medical study volunteer alleges inadequate disclosure of risk – $190,000 Settlement
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: November 10, 2008
A 58-year-old male volunteered to participate in a multi-center clinical trial studying the analgesic efficacy and safety of a new medication. Plaintiff signed a consent form acknowledging that one of the potential side effects of the medication was “slower blood clotting.”
A laboratory screening test performed on the plaintiff prior to his participation in the [...]
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