The VLW Blog

Here’s what NOT to do during oral argument at the Supreme Court of Virginia, according to Justice LeRoy Millette.  Millette noted lawyers twice referred to the sitting court as “you guys” during one recent session. The over-familiarity was not well received by the justices, Millette disclosed, although one of the offenders managed to prevail on [...]

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Virginia Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Lemons has moved his home and chambers to Nellysford. Lemons’ chambers had been in the Supreme Court building in Richmond, and he had lived in Hanover County on a 3-acre tract west of Ashland. His new home is in the Stoney Creek development of Wintergreen, and his chambers are [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has decided that a third major charitable immunity case in four years isn’t necessary. The court refused a petition for appeal last week in Figueroa-Jiminez v. Didlake Inc., Record No. 091183, a case from Prince William County in which the parents of a mentally retarded 25-year-old son with cerebral palsy [...]

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Gov. Timothy M. Kaine this morning called a special session of the legislature for Aug. 19 to address the problems created by Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. Mark Rubin, counsel to the governor, said, “A legislative fix doesn’t cure the problem, but it will help us manage the problem.” The problem is that the 5-4 decision by [...]

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ABINGDON–Virginia lawyers may soon get a glimpse of what is promised to be a simple and centralized system for electronic filing in the state courts. Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. drew applause when he told a roomful of lawyers the state’s planned electronic filing system will be lawyer-friendly. “It’s going to be available [...]

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Paul W. Powell will not be executed tomorrow night. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts granted a stay of execution today pending review of his petition for a writ of certiorari to the high court. The three-sentence order indicates that Powell shouldn’t put but so much faith in the stay, however. If the court denies the [...]

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The remand of the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling in Magruder v. Commonwealth appeared to be the most likely result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday on the application of the Confrontation Clause to lab reports. The U.S. Supreme Court said, in essence, that an affidavit by a lab technician is no substitute [...]

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The legal wrangling over visitation for 7-year-old Isabella Miller continues. Isabella was the child born to Lisa Miller in April 2002 after she and Janet Jenkins had entered into a civil union in Vermont. Miller subsequently sought to have the union dissolved, and Jenkins was awarded visitation rights as part of the dissolution. However, Miller [...]

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It’s up and certainly spiffier. The Supreme Court of Virginia’s new interface for its Web site makes extensive use of layered menus and appears to be much easier to navigate for those with a steady hand on the mouse. Much of the information that is available is in the old format after you drill down [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled yesterday that a girl badly injured in a car wreck can “stack” the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in her father’s auto policy, increasing the potential amount of money available for her injury. In the case, the girl’s lawyer was able to distinguish the language in the father’s policy from the [...]

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