The VLW Blog

In this week’s issue of Virginia Lawyers Weekly, we presented the recipients of our 2007 “Unsung Legal Heroes” awards. The awards program honors professionals who work behind the scenes in law offices and courthouses throughout the commonwealth, including: legal secretaries/assistants, law librarians, paralegals, firm administrators and IT professionals. These 15 individuals were nominated by their [...]

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A second circuit judge has upheld the constitutionality of Virginia’s civil remedial fees. Westmoreland Circuit Judge George Mason III reversed last week a ruling by Hanover General District Judge Peter L. Trible that the fees violate the Virginia and U.S. constitutions’ guarantee of equal protection under the law. Mason heard the case after Hanover Circuit [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia may yet reach the merits of the effort of a lesbian mother to sever the parental rights of her former partner. “May” because attorneys for the partner, Janet Jenkins, contend that Virginia law bars consideration of issues in a second Virginia appeal that already were determined in an earlier appeal. [...]

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A Suffolk general district judge has delayed the verdict in an assault case after getting assurances from the defense attorney, a member of the General Assembly, that lower court judges can do so, The Virginian-Pilot reports. Judge James A. Moore delayed judgment for a year in a case brought by a church secretary against a [...]

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Andrew Marsinko, a Botetourt County poultry farmer, wasn’t happy when he learned that a photo taken of him at the 1996 Virginia State Fair showed up on a greeting card. The card shows him wearing a cowboy hat and holding a goose on his knee. The speech balloon on the cover says, “Since it’s your [...]

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Former University of Mary Washington President William J. Frawley was in court yesterday on the first of two drunken-driving hearings he will have this week. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that in Fredericksburg general district court, he entered an Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but acknowledged the prosecution had enough evidence to [...]

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Retired Judge Jack Coulter died last Thursday at the age of 83. He served on the 23rd Circuit, covering Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem, from 1973 to 1989. In the 1980s, Judge Coulter twice was under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The judge practiced law with his son Philip in [...]

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A box cutter is not a weapon and a pistol is no longer “about the person” if its owner immediately moves away from it after placing it in a car console, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today in reversing two convictions for carrying a concealed weapon after having been convicted of a felony. The [...]

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Here’s a nugget for the employment bar from Banks v. Mario Industries of Virginia Inc., decided today by the Supreme Court: Disclaimers about no expectation of privacy in the use of company computers will be upheld, and attorney-client privilege is no help to an ex-employee on the point. The Banks case was a business-tort claim [...]

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Overruling a 68 year-old precedent, the Supreme Court of Virginia has uprooted a rule that limited a neighbor’s remedies when confronted by the tree next door. In a case from Fairfax Circuit Court, Richard Fancher sued townhouse neighbor Joseph Fagella, alleging the spreading root system of a sweet gum tree in Fagella’s back yard had [...]

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