Suit Barred After Comp Award

No Vested Rights in Adjacent Land Use

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia, Zoning

In this first-impression case, the Supreme Court of Virginia says a landowner, here of a commercial building, did not acquire a vested right in the zoning classification or use of an adjacent property or in a road shown on a town plan, when the owner of the adjacent property, a church, seeks rezoning in order [...]

No Duty to Driver for Falling Tree

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia, Tort

A driver on a public highway cannot collect from a landowner for personal injuries sustained due to a tree falling from the owner’s property onto the vehicle on the public highway; the Virginia Supreme Court says a landowner does not owe a duty to protect travelers on a public roadway from natural conditions on his [...]

No Defamation from Draft Complaint

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia, Tort

A lawyer who said he was defamed by a draft legal complaint proffered for settlement purposes and later filed in court, cannot sue for defamation, says the Supreme Court of Virginia. Defendants in the defamation action claimed allegations in the draft complaint, sent before the lawsuit was filed, were nevertheless privileged. Plaintiff claimed there was [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia’s recent resolution of a zoning case by unpublished order has caused confusion both on the high court and among observers, where none is warranted. In its unpublished order in Town of Occoquan v. Elm Street Development, Inc. (VLW 012-6-062), the high court upheld a decision in favor of a developer [...]

‘Pollution Exclusion’ Applies to Formula Loss

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia

In this suit for insurance coverage for a multi-million dollar loss of plaintiff’s infant formula due to infiltration of filter elements into the formula during the manufacturing process, the Virginia Supreme Court upholds judgment for the carriers because the policies’ pollution exclusion endorsements do not limit the exclusion to traditional environmental or atmospheric contamination losses. [...]

Global Warming Harm Not Policy ‘Occurrence’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia

A civil complaint filed by a Native village on an Alaska barrier island alleging an energy company’s intentional release of emissions caused harmful effects from global warming did not allege an “occurrence” as that term is defined in the energy company’s CGL policies with Steadfast Insurance Company, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms a [...]

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 [...]

No Tolling by Putative Class Action

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Civil Procedure, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia

On two questions certified to the Supreme Court of Virginia by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in this products liability litigation over the drug Fosamax, the Supreme Court holds that Virginia law does not permit equitable tolling of a state statute of limitations due to the pendency of a putative class action in [...]

Constructive Trust OK Without Fraud

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Creditor’s Rights, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Supreme Court of Virginia

The Virginia Supreme Court says a circuit court did not err in imposing a constructive trust on funds removed from the operating account of a management company for a local housing authority, by a secured creditor with a perfected security interest in the operating account, when those funds were entrusted to the management company in [...]