The VLW Blog

Narrow legal analysis may be a more effective way to attack Virginia’s civil remedial fees than broad constitutional and public policy arguments.
That could be a lesson from the case of Rajesh Cherkukuri, an Indian national who was convicted earlier this month of drunken driving in Prince William County.
Cherukuri has a Virginia driver’s license and has [...]

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Arlington General District Judge Dorothy Clarke ruled Tuesday that the state’s new fees for “abusive drivers” are unconstitutional.
Clarke bought the defendant’s equal protection argument. The scheme applies only to state residents.
The Washington Post has the story.

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A Roanoke County circuit judge has rebuffed a request to stop statewide collection of “civil remedial fees” from “abusive drivers.” The Roanoke Times reports that Judge Jim Swanson denied an injunction to a team of lawyers representing several drivers who face assessment of the new hefty fees.
The judge expressed some skepticism about their lawsuit [...]

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Yet another general district judge has upheld Virginia’s new scheme of “civil remedial fees” for “abusive drivers.” This time, the venue is Chesterfield County.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Chesterfield General District Judge Philip V. Daffron has ruled that the statute establishing the fees is constitutional. Turning back a challenge by five drivers, Daffron found [...]

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Before suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty in Richmond federal court to a dogfighting charge a few weeks ago, it seemed like the news in central Virginia was all Vick, all the time. Since then his name mostly has been showing up low in the stories about yet another Falcons loss.
But today’s papers [...]

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Karen A. Gould, the immediate past president of the Virginia State Bar, will succeed Thomas A. Edmonds as executive director of the agency.
The appointment is not yet official because the VSB Council must act on it at its October meeting, and the Supreme Court of Virginia must approve the council’s recommendation.
However, Gould was recommended Friday [...]

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A circuit judge has ruled that the capital murder trial of William Morva, charged with killing two law enforcement officials, should be moved from Montgomery County, reports the Roanoke Times. A manhunt for Morva around Blacksburg briefly closed the Virginia Tech campus on the first day of classes of the 2006 school year.
The judge [...]

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When the 11-year-old girl’s mother confronted her daughter about her suspicion that the girl’s stepfather had been abusing her, the girl at first denied it.
The mother took her for a medical examination anyway in July 2006. Not only was the stepfather’s DNA found inside the girl’s vagina, she was pregnant by him.
A Washington County jury [...]

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In what appears to be the first ruling in Hampton Roads on civil remedial fees, Virginia Beach General District Judge Calvin Depew Jr. has found them to be constitutional.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Depew heard arguments Friday in a misdemeanor aggressive driving case and issued an opinion late Tuesday.
General district judges in Hanover and Henrico counties [...]

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Senior Judge H. Emory Widener Jr. of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals died yesterday at his home in Abingdon, reports the Bristol Herald Courier. He was 83. Appointed to the bench by President Nixon in 1972, Judge Widener took senior status in July.

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