The VLW Blog

They take their cocktails seriously, those folks in Alexandria. And because the folks at the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control take the rules seriously, it look legislation from the 2008 General Assembly to make it legal for Northern Virginians (and the rest of us) to get such treats as sangria wine and frozen beer [...]

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Virginia Court of Appeals Judges D. Arthur Kelsey and LeRoy F. Millette Jr. and Fairfax County Circuit Judge R. Terrence Ney have won the endorsement of both the Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys for a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The VBA also endorsed Arlington Circuit Judge Joanne [...]

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Fairfax Circuit Judge Randy Bellows today upheld the constitutionality of a Virginia statute that governs how property rights are determined in a church split, in a case that has pitted the mainline Episcopal Diocese of Virginia against 11 breakaway congregations. In an April 3 decision, Bellows said the division in the church was such that [...]

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You’ve briefed and argued your Virginia circuit court case. Weeks go by and the judge still has it under advisement. Your client wants to know what’s taking so long. The remedy under the Virginia Code: tell it to the Chief. That’s right. Under Virginia Code § 17.1-107, if Chief Justice Leroy Hassell, or his designee [...]

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Debtors’ lawyers left hanging by the “hanging paragraph” controversy for car buyers don’t have to hang around any more. And creditors don’t have to hang back. Yesterday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that when a Chapter 13 debtor owes money for a car and surrenders the vehicle, but its sale nets less [...]

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Troutman Sanders LLP will merge with D.C.-based Ross, Dixon & Bell on Jan. 1 in a deal that will double the Atlanta-based firm’s Washington contingent and give it its first offices in the Midwest and on the West Coast. Robert W. Webb Jr., Troutman’s chairman, said the merger is “very important to our national footprint.” [...]

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The war of words is escalating over the General Assembly’s failure to appoint judges to fill vacancies in the Hampton courts. In this Daily Press op-ed piece apparently penned by two Democratic senators from Hampton, the writers accuse Delegate Tom Gear, R-Hampton, of holding up the appointments because of his insistence on getting his sister [...]

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The General Assembly appears poised to fill at least three judicial vacancies, but legislators are still scrambling to find a Supreme Court justice, an SCC member and judges in Hampton and Norfolk. Likely to be appointed are Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Charles S. Sharp to replace Circuit Judge John W. Scott Jr., who died in April; [...]

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A doctors’ group can’t sue dairy companies that claim milk promotes weight loss under Virginia consumer protection laws, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled June 19. One print ad for the “Milk Your Diet” angle of the ubiquitous “Got Milk?” campaign featured a svelte Brooke Shields sporting a milk moustache beside revised text [...]

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“This is not a game of ‘Gotcha,’ ” insisted Senior Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy. “We want to deal with substantive issues.” But she acknowledged that the two state appellate courts are refusing to address more and more of those issues because of procedural defaults. She said she didn’t know whether the blame [...]

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