Memo to judges: Be ready to discuss Hernandez

Judicial study group: Use chief judges to balance regional caseloads

By Peter Vieth
Published: September 16, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judge Norman A. Thomas, Judge Thomas D. Horne, Judicial Boundaries, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Virginia State Bar

Virginia’s existing court districts and circuits are so intertwined with other government services that they should not be changed, at least for now. That’s the conclusion of a court-appointed study panel after a fast but intense study of Virginia’s judicial map, members report. But the Judicial Boundary Realignment Study Committee will suggest a way to [...]

Payee notification up for discussion again

By Peter Vieth
Published: September 15, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Payee Notification, Virginia State Bar, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

Virginia Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser has asked the Virginia State Bar once again to look at payee notification. Past proposals, seeking to protect clients from potentially larcenous lawyers, would have required insurance companies to give notice to litigants expecting money after settling a case. The concept has been controversial – trial lawyers felt unduly [...]

New rule floated for lawyers who waive into bar

By Alan Cooper
Published: August 11, 2011
Tags: Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar

Some lawyers who waive into the Virginia State Bar find to their dismay that they do not have the same permanent status as those who pass the bar exam. A notice to the VSB’s membership department that they have moved out of state or want to change their status can result in a show cause [...]

Drive time factors into redrawing boundaries

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 15, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judge Norman A. Thomas, Judicial Boundaries, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Worries about windshield time for judges assigned to duty beyond a home court surfaced at last night’s Hampton Roads hearing on judicial redistricting proposals. The July 14 hearing in Portsmouth was the fourth in a series of six public hearings scheduled by the Virginia Supreme Court’s Judicial Boundary Realignment Study Committee. Drive time is a [...]

Court’s study panel: Keep judicial map as is

By Alan Cooper
Published: July 12, 2011
Tags: Bar Associations, General Assembly, Judge Thomas D. Horne, Judicial Boundaries, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser

The special committee appointed by Virginia’s chief justice to study judicial boundaries says the state’s existing judicial map should stay the way it is. The reason: A fear of collateral harm to how the commonwealth’s courts operate if wholesale changes are adopted. Legislative redistricting proposals died earlier this year with the understanding that the court [...]

Conviction Stands Despite Witness Confusion

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Supreme Court of Virginia

Although a rental store manager admitted to confusion about the date defendant first rented a 10-foot aluminum brake with a handle and stand, the trial court could find credible the remainder of her testimony about attempting to get the property back over a two-to-three-month period and having to enlist a deputy sheriff to locate and [...]

No Wrongful Death Appeal After Self-Executing Order

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Supreme Court of Virginia

In an administrator’s wrongful death action against an assisted living center where her husband lived, alleging he died as a result of negligence on the part of the center, a rehabilitation provider and its employees, Va. Code § 8.01-335(B) did not permit the trial court to discontinue or dismiss the case with a self-executing, prospective [...]

Chief Justice asked to just say “no”

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 30, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser

Dear Editor: I must initially state I am writing as a member of the bar of this state and not a government employee, as I am. The article, “Memo to judges: Be ready to discuss Hernandez,” in the May 16 issue, caused me concern as a citizen and a member of the bar. “The accumulation [...]

Judges asked to keep logs of their time

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 13, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judge Thomas D. Horne, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Redistricting, Supreme Court of Virginia News

ROANOKE—The Supreme Court of Virginia expects to have plenty of data to back up its proposal for realignment of judicial boundaries when it hands the plan to the General Assembly in November. Legislators proposed a judicial realignment plan in the 2010 General Assembly, but deferred to the Supreme Court for review and advice about the [...]