Virginia Court of Appeals « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Summary Dispositions

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Virginia Court of Appeals

The Virginia Court of Appeals has decided the following administrative cases by summary disposition:
Flaig v. VEC, No. 1404-11-3, Dec. 13, upholding a denial of unemployment comp on the ground that claimant’s misconduct barred benefits. VLW 011-7-397(UP), 2 pp.
Terra Firma LLC v. Sexton, No. 1494-11-1, Dec. 13, 2011, rejecting employer’s claim that employee showed hot conditions [...]

Appeal Dismissed Without Transcript

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals

A wife’s claim she should have been awarded damages and attorney’s fees for husband’s alleged breach of their property settlement agreement is dismissed by the Court of Appeals because wife failed to provide the court with transcripts or an agreed statement of facts detailing the incidents of trial.
We cannot determine what evidence the trial court [...]

Second Child’s Best Interests Support Termination

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

Three years after termination of her parental rights to her son, the Court of Appeals affirms termination of an incarcerated mother’s rights to her daughter age 20 months; Va. Code § 16.1-283(E)(i) provides an independent ground for termination in cases involving siblings making it unnecessary to consider § 16.1-283(C)(2) as an alternate ground.
Mother’s parental rights [...]

Fine Nonpayment Lands Defendant in Jail

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s 10-day jail sentence for failing to pay fines totaling $260 plus court costs imposed for two county ordinance violations; defendant failed to make an adequate record for appellate review of his contention that the fines imposed were for infractions rather than crimes so as to authorize punishment for contempt [...]

Lying and Furtive Movements Allow Seizure

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant’s lie about his pockets and furtive movements during a consensual search gave the police reasonable suspicion for the seizure that resulted in his conviction for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, the Court of Appeals says.
Defendant and two other individuals were in an area police were assigned to patrol because of past and current [...]

No Comp for Job Outside Virginia

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

A laborer hired in Virginia to perform a job in Delaware cannot collect workers’ comp in Virginia for a job-related injury, and the Court of Appeals upholds the commission’s denial of benefits.
While doing drywall work in Delaware, claimant fell off a ladder and was injured. The employer, claimant and other workers all were present in [...]

Potential Caregivers Not ‘Relatives’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Virginia Court of Appeals

A woman whose child was removed from her custody cannot proffer as “relatives” a couple whose daughter was the girlfriend of the woman’s brother; the Court of Appeals says such a tenuous connection does not make the couple “relatives” of the child.
On appeal, the mother argues the trial court erred by terminating her parental rights [...]

Fear of Firing Not Reason to Quit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 2, 2012
Tags: Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Unemployment Comp, Virginia Court of Appeals

Although a truck dispatcher said she did not receive sufficient training and she quit her job because she feared she would be fired, her apprehension was not good cause to leave her job, and the Court of Appeals affirms the denial of unemployment compensation.
The Virginia Employment Commission found claimant’s reason for quitting was not – [...]

Mom Must Pay Dad’s Attorney’s Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Stephen R. McCullough, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms a denial of a protective order to mother but remands for a determination of her ability to pay $14,000 in attorney’s fees awarded by the trial court; the trial court’s evidentiary rulings were not an abuse of discretion.
Parents divorced when daughter was an infant. In March 2010, mother petitioned the [...]

No Change for Dad’s Move

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Frank, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms the trial court’s denial of father’s motion to modify spousal support and custody/visitation for changed circumstances; neither father’s move nor mother’s alleged underemployment support making a change
Husband and wife separated after 14 years of marriage and three children, only one a minor at the time of the divorce. Father, in [...]

Virginia Lawyers Weekly