Agency Was ‘Arbitrary’ in Pulling Medicaid Pay

Family Gets Adoption Subsidy, Attorney’s Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 30, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Augusta County Circuit Court, Judge Victor V. Ludwig, Virginia Circuit Courts

An Augusta County Circuit Court overturns a state agency’s denial of an adoption assistance subsidy to a family that took in an infant, with the intent to adopt him, but who were stymied by the agency’s decision that the family could not seek a subsidy after the child became eligible for adoption because the child [...]

Board’s Denial of Contract Claim OK’d

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 29, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Judge Walter S. Felton Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

A homeowner is not entitled to compensation from the Board for Contractors based on deficient work by the contractor hired to renovate her home; the Court of Appeals says the circuit court erred in considering evidence on appeal that was not in the administrative record and in reversing the board’s denial of compensation under the [...]

Reg Upheld for Rail-to-Trail Conversion

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 27, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

The 4th Circuit upholds a federal agency’s interpretation of its regulation under the National Trails System Act to require a state agency that wants to sponsor conversion of a railroad right-of-way to a public trail to indemnify the railroad against “any potential liability”; the regulation does not require a state agency to waive its sovereign [...]

Forms over substance: Agency can’t retract payments by claiming paperwork errors

By Paul Fletcher
Published: November 26, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Lorraine Nordlund, Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court

The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services has been rebuffed in two different cases in its efforts to get back money it paid for services rendered through Medicaid. In cases from Fairfax and Norfolk, DMAS sought to retract payments of more than $100,000 by claiming providers made errors in filling out agency forms. But two [...]

Vanity License Tag Reg Unconstitutional

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Administrative, brown, Chesapeake Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Regulations of the Department of Motor Vehicles that prohibit vanity license plates that may reasonably be interpreted as socially, racially or ethnically offensive are unconstitutional because they are not “viewpoint neutral,” and a Chesapeake Circuit Court says the DMV may not apply the regulations to strike vanity license tags with the labels “ICUHAJI” and “HAJIKYLR,” [...]

Formal Service Needed for Agency Review

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals

On rehearing en banc of a circuit court’s dismissal of an appeal challenging revocation of a contractor’s license, the Court of Appeals says Rule 2A:4(a) contemplates formal service of process upon an agency secretary in the same manner as is required for service of a complaint initiating a civil action; the en banc court upholds [...]

Judge’s Courtroom Visit Not Ethics Violation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 7, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Supreme Court of Virginia

A judge did not violate Virginia judicial canons by appearing in a courtroom to support a close personal friend in a legal proceeding or by texting a court employee during evening hours to obtain a personal phone number, which purportedly related to a political campaign by the judge’s nephew; the Supreme Court of Virginia dismisses [...]

Utility Gets Rate Adjustment for Environmental Costs

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 7, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy, Supreme Court of Virginia

Appellant utility company is entitled to a rate adjustment clause for recovery of actual costs it directly incurred for environmental compliance in 2009 and 2010, but did not recover through its base rates; the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses the State Corporation Commission’s denial of recovery of environmental compliance costs on the basis that those [...]

SCC Order Under Utility Reg Act Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 6, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

In reviewing the State Corporation Commission’s 2011 biennial review of appellant power company’s performance during the 2009-2010 period, the Supreme Court of Virginia says the SCC did not err in determining that the utility’s authorized “fair rate of return on common equity” of 10.9 percent would apply to the entire 2011-2012 period in the next [...]