No Causation for Jones Act Recovery 
By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 24, 2012
Tags: Admiralty, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Supreme Court of Virginia
A first mate who injured his back when he jumped from the commercial fishing vessel onto dock to catch lines cannot collect damages of $538,151.50 on his Jones Act claim because he did not shown causation for his claim that defendant owner’s failure to have him undergo a pre-hire MRI to assess his physical ability [...]
The deal stays done: Fraud claim can’t undo settlement after $7M loss
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 25, 2012
Tags: Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Supreme Court of Virginia News
When Jared Murayama signed off on a settlement in December 2009, he may have thought he had a pretty good deal. The deal gave him $2 million for transferring stock shares to NISC Holdings LLC, a company that bought out Murayama’s information technology company two years earlier. That was $2 million more than one proposal [...]
Van-fire plaintiff can cite other fires
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 14, 2012
Tags: Albemarle County Circuit Court, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Wrongful Death
A Waynesboro family can use evidence of other fires in Ford Windstar minivans to sue Ford Motor Company for the wrongful death of their three-year-old daughter after their minivan caught fire in their driveway. Earlier, an Albemarle County Circuit Court said the family could not use evidence of other van fires they alleged had put [...]
Settlement Challenger Can’t Show Reliance
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Contract, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Supreme Court of Virginia
A trust cannot overturn a settlement agreement and sue defendants on allegations that defendants misrepresented the value of stock to be transferred pursuant to the agreement settling the underlying suit; the Supreme Court of Virginia says the parties clearly were adversaries and plaintiffs cannot show they reasonably relied on misrepresentations and omissions by defendants as [...]
Fatal Van Fire Case Reinstated
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Products Liability, Supreme Court of Virginia
A products liability suit arising from a fire in a 2001 Ford Windstar van that killed a three-year-old girl and alleges Ford failed to warn about the dangerous condition of “key-off dash area electrical fires,” is reinstated by the Supreme Court of Virginia, who says plaintiff can introduce evidence of four of seven other allegedly [...]
New zoning cases ‘reconcilable,’ land use lawyer says
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 7, 2012
Tags: Judge Mary Grace O'Brien, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Justice William C. Mims, Prince William County Circuit Court, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Zoning
The Supreme Court of Virginia’s recent resolution of a zoning case by unpublished order has caused confusion both on the high court and among observers, where none is warranted. In its unpublished order in Town of Occoquan v. Elm Street Development, Inc. (VLW 012-6-062), the high court upheld a decision in favor of a developer [...]
‘Best Value’ Public Contract Challenged
By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Contract, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Supreme Court of Virginia
A company that wanted to provide janitorial services to a public school system may sue the school board under the Virginia Public Procurement Act, Va. Code § 2.2-4300, in a complaint challenging the board’s application of a “best value” approach to awarding the contract in lieu of awarding the contract to the “lowest responsive and [...]
No Standing for Petition Committee
By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Supreme Court of Virginia, Zoning
A city charter provision that authorized plaintiffs to organize a petition drive for a referendum on a zoning ordinance that would allow development on part of Buckroe Beach did not give plaintiffs standing to later sue in circuit court to halt development that allegedly continued even after city council repealed the ordinance at issue, the [...]
A tale of two cases: Land use lawyers scrutinize permits
By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 16, 2012
Tags: Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia News
A developer that wants to build in the historic town of Occoquan got a green light from the Supreme Court of Virginia earlier this month, in a case that raises questions about the role of “Special Use Permits” in regulating development. Although the high court’s order in the Occoquan case is unpublished, a concurrence by [...]
Per Se Defamation Damages Upheld
By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Employment, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Supreme Court of Virginia
A former Newport News Circuit judge fails to overturn or reduce a jury award against her for defamation for telling newspaper reporters that a former court employee who accused the judge of sexual harassment had been “institutionalized,” in this decision from the Supreme Court of Virginia. During the course of litigation, the defamation plaintiff settled [...]
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