The VLW Blog

Following the 2010 General Assembly session? Here is a valuable resource you might not be aware of: the Richmond Sunlight Web site.
Established by the Virginia Interfaith Center in 2007, this volunteer-run site provides user-friendly access to comprehensive data such as:

A complete list of House and Senate bills searchable by name, topic or date. Summaries, full-text [...]

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Roanoke Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein will allow a medical malpractice plaintiff to pursue his claim that a Carilion Clinic policy discouraging outside referrals led to medical complications.
Weckstein ruled today in a hearing in the case of Ronald Burchett, according to The Roanoke Times .
Burchett, represented by Robert Hovis of Annandale, claims Carilion’s reluctance to call [...]

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A William & Mary law professor used legal “mumbo jumbo” to undermine the authority of the Kingsmill Community Services Association, accused the group’s lawyer in a letter delivered by police . The professor fires back, saying the tactic is a “bush-league attempt at intimidation.”
The battle of legal letters has erupted as residents of James City [...]

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The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a finding that a Botetourt County officer had qualified immunity from a lawsuit claiming he unlawfully entered a home at night to investigate a missing teen aged girl.
The 4th U.S. Court of Appeals in June reversed the decision of District Judge Samuel Wilson that Sgt. J.A. Wood [...]

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A Vermont judge has issued an arrest warrant for the missing mother in a two-state, same-sex custody battle.
Family Court Judge William Cohen ordered the arrest of Lisa Miller, who has refused to turn over her 7-year-old daughter Isabella pursuant to the judge’s custody order favoring Miller’s former partner, Janet Jenkins, reports the Rutland Herald .
Miller’s [...]

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Mark Grunewald (right), a law professor at Washington and Lee University since 1976, will become interim dean on July 1.
The current dean, Rodney A. Smolla, is leaving to become president of Furman University in Greenville, S.C.
A graduate of Emory University and George Washington University law school, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review, Grunewald [...]

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A Richmond federal prosecutor crossed a line during closing argument in a weapons trial when she told the jury that two government witnesses “told the truth,” the 4th Circuit says. Federal precedent says it is improper for a prosecutor to vouch for or bolster testimony of a government witness by offering a personal belief in [...]

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The Virginia Family Law Coalition won one and lost one today in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.
House Bill 14 would have allowed a judge to draw an adverse inference if a party or witness refuses, on the ground of self-incrimination, to answer a question about adultery or certain other sexual crimes that remain on [...]

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House Bill 1306 would require jurors to provide a Social Security, voter registration card or photo identification when they assemble for juror selection.

If a juror doesn’t have the ID with him, he must sign “a statement affirming, under penalty of perjury, that he is the named juror.”

“Is this a problem outside of movies and novels?” [...]

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Virginia House majority leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, is hoping to challenge long-time Rep. Rick Boucher for the 9th District Congressional seat, reports The Roanoke Times .
“It’s going to take a lot of time and money, but I believe it can be done,” Griffith told the paper this afternoon. “I just have to make sure there’s [...]

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