The latest news and cases from the Supreme Court of Virginia
">Court revisits ‘right result for wrong reason’ Posted in Criminal Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Nov 4th, 2010
The Supreme Court of Virginia had three occasions today to consider the concept of reaching the right result for the wrong reason in criminal cases. It issued two opinions based on the issue, using one of them to provide a significant clarification of the concept, and heard arguments in a third case on which the [...]
">Dismissed case revived, limitations defense fails Posted in Civil Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Nov 4th, 2010
A wrongful death case dismissed due to three years of inactivity can be reinstated within a year without running afoul of the statute of limitations, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled Thursday. The unanimous court reversed an Albemarle County judge who ruled the reinstatement came too late under the original statute of limitations, even when [...]
">High court won’t rehear church property case Posted in Civil Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Sep 27th, 2010
The Supreme Court of Virginia has refused to rehear its June decision to remand a dispute over Episcopal church property to the Fairfax trial court. A unanimous high court said in June that nine Episcopal parishes in Northern Virginia that voted to separate from the Episcopal Church could not keep their church property in the [...]
">High court’s newest justice calls for ‘return to first principles’ Posted in Justices, Supreme Court Opinions on Sep 20th, 2010
No, Justice William C. Mims was not announcing himself as a “strict constructionist.” He is, however, ready for some plain talk about the plain language of Virginia’s statute of repose, Virginia Code § 8.01-250. Builders depend on the statute of repose to cut off any chance for personal injury claims after five years. Mims, joined [...]
">An invalid order, but no standing to challenge it Posted in Civil Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Sep 17th, 2010
What happens when a judge without authority to hear an ex parte petition grants it anyway and no party has standing to object to it? You have what a concurring justice calls “a procedural Gordian knot.” The knot was tied when The Wall Street Journal attempted to enter the market to publish legal advertising in [...]
">Signature rule strictly construed Posted in Civil Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Sep 16th, 2010
A lawsuit filed in Virginia must be signed, by the plaintiff in his own hand if he’s pro se, or by a Virginia-licensed lawyer, if the plaintiff has counsel. The Supreme Court of Virginia reinforced that rule in two decisions handed down today, both of them personal injury suits filed after automobile accidents. In the [...]
">Lawyers two for two in high court Posted in Civil Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Sep 16th, 2010
Lawyers won in two legal malpractice cases handed down today by the Supreme Court of Virginia. In Wintergreen Partners Inc. v. McGuireWoods LLP, the high court dismissed Wintergreen’s legal malpractice suit alleging McGuireWoods’ late filing of a transcript had blown the resort’s appeal of an $8.3 million jury award for a young woman injured on [...]
">Old lab report procedure invalid under Melendez, court holds Posted in Criminal Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Sep 16th, 2010
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Melendez-Diaz, the Supreme Court of Virginia has acknowledged Virginia’s former procedure for admission of lab reports in criminal trials failed to safeguard a defendant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause. The decision today in Cypress v. Commonwealth (VLW 010-6-083) means a new trial for one drug defendant, but no [...]
">Obscenity conviction reversed Posted in Criminal Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Aug 13th, 2010
Kevin Lamont Newby got no points for subtlety in his proposition to the female anchor of a Hampton Roads television station. He mailed 15 photographs of himself in varying states of undress, including full frontal nudity, to the woman at WVEC-TV. The package containing the photos went first to the station’s office in Hampton and [...]
">Child-restraint law no bar to common law negligence claim Posted in Civil Cases, Supreme Court Opinions on Jun 10th, 2010
A state law that says it is not negligent to fail to restrain a child in a vehicle does not abrogate the common law duty to protect the child, a divided Supreme Court of Virginia holds today. Four-year-old Hannah Leigh Evans was seriously injured in a head-on collision after her father put her in a [...]
