The VLW Blog

A seaman claiming injuries stemming from a fateful shore leave in Korea may have to retry his case against a Norfolk shipping company. The decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia ends the seaman’s hope to reinstate a $25-million jury verdict. The seaman claimed his employer, the shipping company, failed to provide sufficient medical help [...]

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Virginia judicial leaders are getting ready to take a close look at how busy the state’s judges are. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser has appointed an 18-member advisory committee to assist the court in its General Assembly-mandated study of trial court caseloads. At the same time, the Judicial Council of Virginia will measure [...]

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Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia, led by Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser (center), added mulch to the newly planted Forever Tree, a maple, in memory of Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. in Capitol Square. Funds for the tree came from the Virginia Bar Association, the Senior Lawyers Conference of the Virginia State [...]

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A Virginia father can seek damages from adoption lawyers and a Utah couple who adopted his child without his permission, a divided Supreme Court of Virginia said on April 20. A tort claim for “tortious interference with parental rights” is part of Virginia common law, the court said. According to the father’s complaint, the mother [...]

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The House Courts committee has killed a bill designed to keep evidence in district court civil cases from the eyes of circuit judges hearing the cases on appeal. House Bill 284 took aim at circuit judges inclined to prejudge a district court case before hearing the evidence in new proceedings. When a lower court decision [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia will be asked to review a hard-fought Charlottesville wrongful death case where the judge slashed a death verdict by more than $4 million and imposed a record-breaking sanctions award against a plaintiff’s lawyer. Both sides have filed notices of appeal in the case of Lester v. Allied Concrete Co., according [...]

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An employee for a pest-control company who went to work for a competitor need not worry about that noncompete he signed some time ago. Today a divided Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed dismissal of the company’s suit to enforce the noncompete. The take-away tip for lawyers drafting noncompetes: Make sure to match the activities you [...]

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Justice Cleo Elaine Powell was invested earlier today as the 102nd justice and the first African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Virginia. Powell, who first took the bench in the general district court of Chesterfield County and Colonial Heights 18 years ago, also joins the elite group of justices who have served [...]

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Elizabeth A. McClanahan had a terrific 52nd birthday present today: investiture as a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. With the main courtroom packed and a crowd watching by television in three other rooms, McClanahan took the oath of office from a fellow Southwest Virginian, Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser. Read the full story [...]

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The General Assembly elected Virginia Court of Appeals Judges Elizabeth A. McClanahan and Cleo E. Powell to the Supreme Court of Virginia today. The legislature then filled the court of appeals vacancies by electing Glen A. Huff, a former law partner of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and a civil litigator in Virginia Beach, and Stephen [...]

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