The VLW Blog

In what must be some kind of record, Pennsylvania-based CONSOL Energy Inc. will pay $75 million to resolve six years of coal pollution litigation in Buchanan County Circuit Court. The announcement comes in a CONSOL filing with the SEC this week. The settlement follows a March adverse ruling on a summary judgment motion, according to [...]

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Of all the rights prized by Virginians, the right of self-defense must be pretty high on the list. Knowing when the right kicks in can be a hair-trigger question. A Portsmouth Circuit Court judge thought Quinton Hill could have retreated when Thomas Chavis, a passenger in Shannon Ford’s car, shot into Hill’s car as Ford [...]

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Virginia Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Lemons has been elected president of the board of trustees of the American Inns of Court. Lemons succeeds Robert K. Walsh, dean emeritus of the Wake Forest University law school. He joined the Supreme Court in 2000 after serving on the Richmond Circuit Court and the Virginia Court of [...]

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A First Amendment battle between the Rockingham County commonwealth’s attorney and the James Madison University student newspaper reportedly has been resolved with the paper agreeing to turn over 20 images to law enforcement officials and the state paying the paper’s lawyers. Prosecutor Marsha Garst – with a contingent of police officers – served a search [...]

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