UIM Carrier Retains Right to Defend 
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 6, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
An auto-accident plaintiff who won a $4 million summary judgment against a driver can’t extend that win to her own underinsurance motorist carrier, as the Supreme Court of Virginia says the UIM carrier is not bound by the summary judgment but retains its own right to defend in the event the interests of the UIM [...]
Damages Upheld for Breach of Noncompete Clause
By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 24, 2012
Tags: Contract, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
In this dispute between a government information technology contractor, Preferred Systems Solutions Inc., and one of its subs, GP Consulting LLC, the Virginia Supreme Court affirms an award of $172,395 to PSS, whose former subcontractor went to work for its competitor, GP, days after leaving the plaintiff company. The agreement between PSS and GP included [...]
High court debuts judicial mentorship program
By Peter Vieth
Published: July 16, 2012
Tags: General District Courts, Judgeships, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr.
If you’ve ever been isolated in a new job, wondering who to turn to for answers to simple questions as you learned the ropes, you can appreciate the plight of a rural judge who has just donned the robe. Miles from other judges in the circuit or district, the new judge ponders who to call [...]
Death Penalty Upheld for Prison Murders
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 18, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
On mandatory review, the Virginia Supreme Court upholds two death sentences imposed after defendant’s guilty pleas to murdering two fellow inmates, as not imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor and not excessive or disproportionate. The murders were both clearly premeditated and accomplished by means of ligature strangulation, a very [...]
Email was ‘disgusting’ but was not ‘obscene’
By Peter Vieth
Published: June 15, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr., Justice Charles S. Russell, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia News
An angry doctor’s “disgusting” emails to his ex-wife were not “obscene” under a Virginia criminal law and his conviction for harassment by computer has been overturned by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Where a Court of Appeals majority rejected a narrow interpretation of “obscenity” and embraced instead a broader dictionary definition, the Supreme Court insisted [...]
Single Flood Supports Condemnation Claim
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia
Residents of a Fairfax subdivision have their inverse condemnation case reinstated by the Supreme Court of Virginia, who says the trial court erred in holding that the single occurrence of flooding from a severe storm in 2006 cannot support an inverse condemnation claim under Article I, Section 11 of the Virginia Constitution. Plaintiffs allege the [...]
Lawyer seeks fee split, wins suit against her P.C.
By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2012
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia News
A lawyer who discovered the other shareholder in her two-person firm was writing checks to family members on the firm’s trust account can sue on behalf of their professional corporation, the Supreme Court of Virginia said on April 20. When Charlottesville lawyer Caroline Bragg discovered that John Cattano had written checks to his wife and [...]
School Official Faces Gross Negligence Claim
By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia
An assistant principal who failed to act on a student’s warning about a fight at his high school enjoys sovereign immunity from a claim of negligence, but now faces a new trial on a claim of gross negligence; the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses the trial court’s $1.25 million judgment against the principal and remands [...]
Lawyer Has Derivative Claim Against PC
By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Corporate, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
A lawyer in a two-member firm could sue the other shareholder and bring a derivative action on behalf of their professional corporation, after discovering the other shareholder was writing checks from the firm’s escrow account to his wife and children, and the Supreme Court of Virginia upholds a judgment for plaintiff lawyer giving her a [...]
Parental Right ‘Interference’ is Va. Tort
By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Tort
A Virginia man whose biological child was adopted by a couple in Utah without his permission may sue the adoption agency, the Utah couple and the Virginia and Utah lawyers who brokered the adoption for tortious interference with parental rights; in this case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Virginia recognizes this claim as [...]
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