The VLW Blog

Over protests from homeowners, Chesapeake Circuit Judge Randall D. Smith has validated a jury’s determination that the owners were not entitled to any damages as a result of airport noise. A jury found no evidence of damage to the value of a home near the Chesapeake Regional Airport in a March trial, despite a judge’s [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has agreed to hear Montgomery County’s appeal of a circuit court decision allowing public funding for a Norfolk Southern rail yard project. County supervisors are fighting the proposed freight yard near Elliston by attacking the state funding plan on state constitutional grounds. Richmond Circuit Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr. rejected [...]

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A former Arizona lawyer who tried to claim his 51-acre Virginia property as his law office has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. Kevin Witasick was found guilty on a variety of tax charges in February 2009. He was sentenced today in U.S. district court in Danville, according to a prosecution news release. He [...]

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A federal complaint by a former state prison inmate claims he was tormented by a series of cruel pranks at the hands of a guard at a Botetourt County work camp. The lawsuit reads like a list of frat house jokes that went too far. The guard allegedly lit firecrackers nearby while the inmate was [...]

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A Loudoun County homeowners association was required to arbitrate a dispute with property owners over whether the owners could install a basketball goal on their property, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today in an unpublished order. The property owners contended that the dispute was subject to arbitration under the plain language of the declaration [...]

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What part of no don’t you understand? Chesterfield lawyer Richard C. Ferris II tried four times to get a circuit judge to set aside a default judgment entered against his client – the original pleading, a motion to reconsider, a second motion asking for reconsideration because the testimony of a witness at the first reconsideration [...]

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Roanoke lawyers have filed a federal class action lawsuit against collection agencies over mailings that appear to offer debtors a chance to reduce and manage their debt. The lawsuit claims the companies offer an “opportunity to get ahead” which is actually a disguised effort to get debtors to acknowledge obligations for stale debts. “Most consumers [...]

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Former Roanoke County Sheriff Gerald Holt has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Virginia. Holt’s confirmation was hailed by Virginia’s two U.S. Senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner. “I congratulate Gerald Holt on his confirmation. His decades of service in Roanoke County have well qualified him for [...]

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NORFOLK – Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. says he will not invoke his constitutional power to reassign judges to courts suffering under heavy caseloads. His declaration came earlier today during his State of the Judiciary address to Virginia circuit court judges gathered for the annual Judicial Conference. Hassell said Article VI, Section 4 of [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell has appointed Larry Wilder, the son of former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, as a special assistant on re-entry education. The younger Wilder practiced law for 14 years but more recently has been involved in what a press release described as “designing and implementing community and economic development models.” He served most recently [...]

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