The VLW Blog

The Supreme Court of Virginia today selected Justice Cynthia D. Kinser to be the first woman to serve as chief justice of the court. Kinser is third in seniority on the court to the current chief, Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr., and Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. Hassell will step down on Jan. 31 after eight [...]

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Altria spent the most in the last legislative year in lobbying Virginia public officials, according to the annual report by the Virginia Public Access Project. The holding company that has Philip Morris USA as its principal asset spent $328,848, according to VPAP. A name that isn’t but so well known, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, [...]

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Virginia State Bar disciplinary charges against former York County assistant prosecutor Cathy Krinick have been dropped in the wake of dismissal of a companion case against commonwealth’s attorney Eileen Addison. VSB Counsel Edward Davis confirmed the head of a three-judge panel has signed the order dismissing charges against Krinick, who is now in private practice [...]

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A group of Richmond music lovers charged with violation of the city’s new noise ordinance are willing to risk conviction to get a ruling on their claim that the law is unconstitutional. “What happened in this case was inexcusable,” said Steven Benjamin, attorney for the defendants, who were charged after six police officers allegedly “raided” [...]

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Retired Albemarle County Circuit Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. has sided with the University of Virginia in its effort to block Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s investigation of records from a climate change researcher. In a letter opinion today, Peatross finds the attorney general failed to set forth an objective basis to support his issuance [...]

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A second panel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today upheld a special master’s finding that there is no connection between autism and a mercury-based preservative in the measles-mumps rubella vaccine. The first panel issued its opinion in May. Judge Pauline Newman was the only judge on both panels, but she was [...]

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A group of tenants attacked in a letter from Roanoke white supremacist Bill White has won a jury verdict against White and his American National Socialist Workers Party in a federal civil trial. The jury awarded compensatory damages of $265,000 against White and $280,000 against the party on Aug. 27. Based on a jury finding, [...]

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U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson has upheld a Virginia law that will keep a Spotsylvania County man from appearing on the 7th District congressional election ballot. Herb Lux lives in the 1st District but wants to run for Congress in the 7th District, something he is allowed to do under the Virginia Constitution. But Virginia [...]

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A fee collection lawsuit in Fairfax has turned into a battle pitting a former president of the Virginia Bar Association against a former president of the Virginia State Bar amid allegations of legal malpractice and overbilling. The Lewis Law Firm is a Virginia firm based in Washington; it is headed by Glenn C. Lewis, who [...]

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski recommends limiting attorneys’ fee to 33 1/3 percent for child and wrongful death claims arising from the Salmonella outbreak from products made by the Lynchburg-based Peanut Corporation of America. A report and recommendation issued by Urbanski on Wednesday recommends approval of $12 million in settlements from a fund established to [...]

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