Official hit with $150K defamation award

Application Inconsistent with City Code

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2011
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Taxation

In this dispute over a tax abatement available to Troutman Sanders from the city of Richmond for Troutman’s riverfront development to house its law firm, the circuit court did not err in holding that the city’s application of an undisclosed interpretation of the tax abatement program was inconsistent with the city code, which required that [...]

Jury Can Decide Timely Notice of Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2011
Tags: Insurance, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

In a woman’s suit to recover for personal injuries from a pit bull attack in 2002, the Supreme Court of Virginia says that because of “extenuating circumstances” involving delay in discovering who owned the dogs and the existence of an insurance policy, the trial court erred in finding the notice untimely and the case must [...]

Part Performance No Bar to Repudiation Defense

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2011
Tags: Contract, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

An executive who asked for a raise in pay to $1 million and said if he didn’t get it, he would act as a consultant while he looked for another job, loses his contract suit for severance pay; the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms the jury verdict for the employer, saying that even though the [...]

‘Car Mechanic’ Deception Not Abduction of Woman

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 28, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

A man who dressed as a mechanic and told a woman her car in a shopping mall parking deck was leaking brake fluid cannot be convicted of abduction for his actions directing the woman to lie across the car’s front seats and pull a lever under a passenger seat, as the man stepped aside to [...]

Successive Loans Violate Payday Act

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 28, 2011
Tags: Creditor's Rights, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

A payday lender that makes another loan to a borrower immediately after she pays off the previous loan violates a statutory prohibition against refinancing, renewing or extending any payday loan; the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a contrary trial court ruling. On a monthly basis from March 2005 through November 2007, Wilma Ruby entered into [...]

Police Computer Alert is ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ for Frisk

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 25, 2011
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Search & Seizure, Supreme Court of Virginia

In a split decision, the Supreme Court of Virginia says police could pat down a passenger in a vehicle stopped for a broken rear brake light after the computer in the police patrol car alerted on a name search that the passenger was “probably armed and a narcotics seller/user”; the dissent says no other U.S. [...]

Self-Insured Car Rental Company Gets Coverage from Renter

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 25, 2011
Tags: Insurance, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

A self-insured rental car company can be indemnified by its renter for damages the company paid to a third party due to the renter’s negligence in an auto accident, and the renter’s auto liability carrier must reimburse the rental car company, the Supreme Court of Virginia says. The renter, Bataa Baasanjav, declined the supplemental liability [...]

SVP Should Be Supervised in Virginia

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 9, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

A Virginia circuit court did not have authority under the Sexually Violent Predators Act to conditionally release appellee, an SVP, to a court-supervised agency in the District of Columbia; the Virginia Supreme Court says no provision of the SVPA authorizes the conditional release of an SVP outside the commonwealth, and the circuit erred in conditionally [...]

Sanctions Against Non-Party Citizens Set Aside

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 9, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses monetary sanctions imposed against 40 Gloucester citizens who submitted petitions to the circuit court seeking removal of four members of the local board of supervisors; a special prosecutor was appointed to handle the case, and the petitioners were not parties to the action who were subject to sanctions under [...]