The VLW Blog

So much for bipartisanship. All members of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee appeared to agree yesterday about the best response to the state’s much-maligned civil remedial fees: repeal them as soon as possible and make refunds to those who have paid them already. Somehow, however, the committee split along partisan lines, 8-7, on several [...]

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Animal rights activists have tried for years to get Virginia’s laws on animal fighting changed to protect the four-legged of the world, with little to show for it. After the embarassment of the Michael Vick dogfighting case here in the Old Dominion, legislators apparently now are listening. The Washington Post reports the 2008 session has [...]

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Our DC-based colleague over at Lawyers USA, Kim Atkins, was down at the U.S. Supreme Court today, listening to argument in a case from Portsmouth, Virginia v. Moore. It’s a search case that has already been through the Supreme Court of Virginia, where the defendant prevailed. But 18 attorneys general from other states have backed [...]

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The federal criminal case of former Lynchburg Mayor Carl R. Hutcherson Jr. is over. Hutcherson was convicted last year of fraud and other counts but appealed those convictions to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The government also appealed, contending that the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge James C. Turk was unreasonable. Federal [...]

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Attorney General Bob McDonnell has filed papers for the state to intervene in the Episcopal Church case in Northern Virginia. The case, tried last fall, pits the diocese against 11 congregations that want to break away; millions of dollars in church property hangs in the balance. McDonnell said that since the constitutionality of a state [...]

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You probably don’t have this much interest in interest. The Supreme Court of Virginia takes 49 pages, including a five-page concurrence, to untangle the mess created by two jury trials, two earlier appeals, the specification by a jury of an interest rate higher than the one the trial court allowed, and the possible accrual of [...]

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No expert testimony is needed to establish that a dialysis center was negligent in placing a patient in a chair that collapsed—twice, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today. “The issue of the defendant’s acts of medical negligence regarding the defective chair is quite simple and within the common knowledge of a lay jury,” the [...]

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A new specialized license plate could be coming soon to Virginia. Its focus group? Drunken drivers. A newly proposed law would order Virginia drivers with three or more DUI convictions to sport bright yellow license plates with red characters – a “Scarlet Letter” of sorts for repeat offenders. The bill, sponsored by Del. Lionel Spruill [...]

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A Department of Motor Vehicles record that a defendant was notified of his habitual offender status by law enforcement did not establish that he received actual notice of his determination as an habitual offender, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today. The DMV record entry, “Notified: 2001/03/10 by law enforcement,” “does not specify the content [...]

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Paybacks are, well, um, we won’t say what paybacks are. But televangelist Pat Robertson, who has been unhappy with The Virginian-Pilot and its coverage of him and his activities, may buy the newspaper. Norfolk-based Landmark Communications Inc. announced earlier this month that it will explore selling its assets, including The Pilot and The Weather Channel. [...]

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