The VLW Blog

Lawrence D. Wilder Jr., son of the Richmond mayor and former governor, pleaded guilty today to two misdemeanor counts related to his role as treasurer of his father’s gubernatorial campaign fund. Richmond Circuit Judge Walter W. Stout III sentenced Larry Wilder to 12 months in jail, suspended, on each of the counts and fined him [...]

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Pretrial discovery can be a matter of strategy, and some lawyers even approach it as a game. But one circuit judge in Norfolk isn’t pleased with what he saw as game-playing in a medical-malpractice case. In Oakley v. Warren, Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. reamed both plaintiff’s and defense lawyers, resorting to elementary school terms. [...]

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The next battleground for the fight over the commonwealth’s new scheme of “civil remedial fees” for “abusive drivers” will be Arlington. Maybe. Charles Mason, a Navy veteran, has been charged with driving 75 mph in a 55 mph zone. He could be hit for a fee of $1,050 if convicted. He is scheduled to appear [...]

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A criminal defendant whose character and connections generated more fan mail than an Alexandria federal judge has seen in 25 years won a reduction of his guidelines sentence for obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury and to an FBI agent about his activities in Pakistan and alleged contacts with a jihad training [...]

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The first circuit judge to consider the constitutionality of Virginia’s civil remedial fees said he hopes to rule next week. Henrico Judge L.A. Harris Jr. heard brief arguments today from prosecutor Duncan P. Reid and from defense attorney Craig S. Cooley, who is representing Anthony O. Price along with Esther J. Windmueller. General District Judge [...]

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Convicted felons caught with guns may tell stories they think justify carrying a weapon. The 4th Circuit finally has heard a story strong enough to act on. In U.S. v. Mooney, a published case released yesterday, the court granted post-conviction relief to a West Virginia man sentenced to 180 months in jail after he turned [...]

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A group of anti-tax conservative activists filed a lawsuit yesterday in Richmond Circuit Court, challenging the state’s new scheme of “abusive driver” fees and the transportation plan passed by the 2007 General Assembly, reports The Associated Press. The 25-page, 13-count lawsuit was filed by Richmond lawyer Patrick McSweeney. Plaintiffs in the suit include Del. Robert [...]

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Retired Richmond civil rights lawyer Oliver W. Hill Sr. died this morning at the age of 100, reports The Associated Press. Mr. Hill was one of the lawyers in the 1954 landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education. He and his colleague Spotswood W. Robinson represented black students from Prince Edward County. Mr. Hill’s law [...]

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. After all, Ernestine Combs really needed a liquor license for her lounge, Uroma. And Virginia Beach really wanted to keep Virginia Beach’s notorious “Block,” the area near 17th Street and Pacific Avenue, as orderly as possible. So the city agreed not to object to the liquor [...]

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Two days. Two rulings that Virginia’s civil remedial fees are unconstitutional. Yesterday, it was Henrico General District Judge Archer L. Yeatts III, who acknowledged that he is obliged to enforce the law if there is any rational basis for it. However, “The court rejects the speculations postulated by the Commonwealth, and mindful of its of [...]

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