The VLW Blog

A House committee has approved the election of Franklin County Circuit Judge William Alexander to a third eight-year term on the bench. Alexander came under scrutiny by the panel for his handling of a special grand jury that looked into management of the Franklin County sheriff’s department. He later acknowledged in writing that, if the matter [...]

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Virginia’s two Democratic U.S. senators invoked the name of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell today in urging their Senate colleagues to act on the nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Keenan for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner noted that Keenan has been a trailblazer for women lawyers [...]

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Virginia public school officials score a win at the Supreme Court of Virginia today with a decision that the state’s insurance plan for school systems must cover school districts for lawsuits under the federal special education law. The ruling means the state owes the Newport News school district nearly $200,000, and probably more, since there [...]

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Franklin County Circuit Judge William N. Alexander II wrote the members of the House Courts of Justice Committee yesterday that he has done some serious soul searching since he appeared before the committee on Feb. 24. Our account that appearance is here. He acknowledged mistakes in his handling of a special grand jury that indicted [...]

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A county employee who reported misdeeds by his supervisor – and was promptly fired – cannot sue for retaliation under the Virginia whistleblower law because the county is protected by sovereign immunity, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today. There is nothing in the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act to indicate a waiver of the [...]

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The facts were different, but in two tort cases today the Supreme Court of Virginia re-emphasized that courts should not dismiss cases too early in the process. In one, a tenant filed suit against his landlord and a management company alleging that he suffered an eye injury and that his property was destroyed because the [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has overturned summary contempt convictions and jail terms for two Virginia Beach lawyers and their law clerk. The contempt findings arose during a felony jury trial in which law partners Claude Scialdone and Barry Taylor represented a client charged with offenses stemming from his online chats with a police officer [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has declined to overturn an arbitration award that included resolution of a noncompete issue. In Cotton Creek Circles LLC v. San Luis Valley Water Co., the high court looked at a case involving ranches and water rights in Colorado. Three businesses entered into an LLC; one of members, Boyce, also [...]

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In a decision that may soon be mooted by the General Assembly, the Supreme Court of Virginia has upheld the exclusion of podiatrist testimony about the cause of a plaintiff’s foot injuries. Under the Virginia Code, podiatrists are not qualified to testify as experts regarding “the cause of a human physical injury,” the court holds [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia will not second guess a decision to discipline a Falls Church lawyer for suing a doctor who never treated the lawyer’s client. The court decision comes in the case of Michael P. Weatherbee, who sued Winchester obstetrician Ward Vaughan in a medical malpractice action even though Dr. Vaughan had no [...]

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