Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Contraband found in a pill bottle during a traffic stop was properly admitted as evidence. When appellant denied ownership of the bottle when he surrendered it to the police, he no longer had an expectation of privacy in the bottle ...

Tagged with: Criminal

The commonwealth presented sufficient circumstantial evidence to convict appellant of second-degree murder. Background Christian, the murder victim, was an elementary school teacher. When she failed to appear for work on Sept. 4, 1981, a coworker called her father, who went ...

Tagged with: Criminal Supreme Court of Virginia

The trial court correctly ruled that a general contractor was liable under the doctrine of unjust enrichment for construction materials a subcontractor received from a supplier. Overview Davis, the general contractor for a condominium project, hired H&2 as the drywall ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a district court incorrectly believed that a defendant was prohibited from managing a mortgage brokerage and ordered him to disgorge money earned from the business, the disgorgement order was vacated. A prior consent order did not prevent the man ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

A trust failed to remove the original corporate trustee after it merged with another bank. The trust agreement provided the original corporate trustee could only be removed for cause, and after the merger, the new combined bank stood in the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

A viable hostile work environment claim based on a co-worker’s conduct requires facts showing the employer knew, or should have known, about the harassment and failed to take action to stop it. Here, because the complaint alleged Best Buy successfully ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Employment Discrimination Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr.

Where there is a “branch office” within 200 miles of the borrower’s home, federal regulations require a bank to conduct a face-to-face meeting before initiating foreclosure proceedings. However, that obligation is only triggered where the “branch office” conducts some business ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Banking Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where findings in a state court judgment between a franchisee and his business partner did not involve the same issues as a subsequent action between the franchisee and franchisor and were not essential to the judgment, it was error to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tort

Defendant’s guarantee against double jeopardy is not violated by a second prosecution for being a violent felon in possession of a firearm because the act underlying this prosecution is different than the acts for which he was convicted in his ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mary Jane Hall Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Judicial emergency orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic tolled defendant’s constitutional and statutory speedy trial rights. Overview The parties concede that 103 days, for speedy trial purposes, elapsed from when defendant was arrested to the original trial date ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Charles N. Dorsey Roanoke County Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts