Twelve for ’12: A look at the stories we’ll be watching in the coming year

Justice warns insurance case may paint courts ‘into a corner’

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 7, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Insurance companies scored a win at the Supreme Court of Virginia with a coverage decision last month that could limit available insurance in some tort cases. Revisiting an earlier opinion hailed by insurers, the court stuck to its position denying coverage to electric utilities blamed for greenhouse gases. But its opinion after rehearing used language [...]

County Immune in Park Injury Suit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Justice William C. Mims, Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia

A plaintiff who claims she was injured as a result of the county’s gross negligence in maintaining a public park cannot recover from the county; the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms dismissal of plaintiff’s claim, but says the court should have granted the county’s special plea of sovereign immunity. The circuit court sustained the demurrer [...]

Defaulting Owners Seek Pre-Foreclosure Meeting

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 1, 2012
Tags: Justice William C. Mims, Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia

Although owners defaulted on their mortgage, the circuit court erred in regarding this as a material first breach that prevents them from suing to enforce a condition precedent in the note – a federal regulation requiring a lender to meet face-to-face with a borrower prior to commencing foreclosure – and the Supreme Court of Virginia [...]

Defaulting Owners Seek Pre-Foreclosure Meeting

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 30, 2012
Tags: Justice William C. Mims, Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia

Although owners defaulted on their mortgage, the circuit court erred in regarding this as a material first breach that prevents them from suing to enforce a condition precedent in the note – a federal regulation requiring a lender to meet face-to-face with a borrower prior to commencing foreclosure – and the Supreme Court of Virginia [...]

High court provides primer on preserving objections

By Peter Vieth
Published: April 30, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jan L. Brodie, Justice William C. Mims, Personal Injury, Supreme Court of Virginia News

A major brain injury claim that drew a small verdict from a Fairfax County jury provided an opportunity for the Supreme Court of Virginia to offer guidance to lawyers on preserving objections in a trial court record. The auto accident victim, Mary Arnold, claimed permanent traumatic brain injury from a 2005 collision but came away [...]

Partner of Plaintiff’s Expert Can Testify for Defense

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 24, 2012
Tags: Justice William C. Mims, Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia

A personal-injury plaintiff cannot exclude defense testimony from a doctor in the same practice group as the doctor initially named as plaintiff’s retained expert, because she cannot show they shared any confidential information from plaintiff’s medical records; also, plaintiff’s objection to the foundation for a “business records” exception allowing her medical records to come into [...]

New Appeal Despite Late Transcripts

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Civil Procedure, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia

A defendant who wanted to appeal her embezzlement conviction but filed her transcripts late in the Court of Appeals after some confusion about whether she was pro se or had counsel gets another chance to petition the Court of Appeals, as the Virginia Supreme Court says the intermediate appellate court erred in denying defendant’s motion [...]

Reduced Offense Sentencing Order Vacated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia

A circuit court’s sentencing order following defendant’s Alford plea to attempted rape was void ab initio because the order provided the court could reduce the conviction to misdemeanor sexual battery after defendant’s release from incarceration and successful completion of probation, and the Supreme Court of Virginia vacates the order and remands for resentencing. On Sept. [...]

Letter Not ‘Writing’ for Contract Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Contract, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia

A letter from defendant surveyor to the property owner who hired the surveyor to mark boundary lines of a parcel in Chesapeake, stating the proposal, when signed, would serve as the parties’ written agreement, was not a “writing” for the purposes of the statute of limitations in Va. Code § 8.01-246, and the Supreme Court [...]