Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where prison officials had a tip that a prisoner was smuggling contraband into the prison and a visitor’s gestures and mannerisms were nervous, a strip-search of the visitor was reasonable. Background Angela Calloway was strip-searched during the course of visiting ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon U.S. District Court - Western District

Plaintiff sued the manufacturer of a machine and the company that manufactured a solvent used in the operation of the machine, alleging her exposure to the solvent caused permanent injuries. The court held that, because the record established the plaintiff’s ...

Tagged with: Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon Negligence U.S. District Court - Western District

The United States previously obtained judgment against an individual who failed to pay taxes for 11 years. It now moved to foreclose real property owned by the defendant. The court granted the United States’ motion for summary judgment and ordered ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge M. Hannah Lauck U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Pino pleaded guilty to making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a firearm. The court vacated the guilty plea, however, because the factual record did not support it since Pino had not made a false statement. Background ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert G. Doumar U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Sierra Club sued Dominion Energy under the citizen-suit provision of the Clean Water Act.  Following a bench trial, the district court found that rainwater and groundwater were leaching arsenic from the coal ash in the landfill and settling ponds, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Environmental Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Liberty Counsel, an organization dedicated to advancing Christian causes, sued GuideStar, a nonprofit organization that maintains an extensive online directory of profiles on other nonprofits, after GuideStar reported the Southern Poverty Law Center had designated Liberty Counsel as a hate ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Intellectual Property Per Curiam Opinion

A policy covering the defendant’s airplane was void ab initio based on his false statements about the status and location of the plane. He’d sought last-minute coverage for his already-dilapidated plane as Hurricane Matthew approached, then filed a claim for ...

Tagged with: Insurance Shenandoah County Circuit Court

After being released with a verbal warning for a broken brake light and driving on a suspended license, a reasonable person in the defendant’s position would have felt free to leave. Therefore, his consent for a vehicle search was valid, ...

Tagged with: Judge Glen A. Huff Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

After “only the latest in a string of frivolous lawsuits” against Loudoun County and its various departments, a pro se litigant must pay the county more than $4,000 in attorneys’ fees. She is also barred from bringing more petitions against the County without ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Per Curiam Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia

Sufficient evidence supported the State Corporation Commission’s determination that a requested pilot infrastructure surcharge was just and reasonable. Background In 2015, the Virginia-American Water Company applied to the State Corporation Commission for a general increase in water rates, claiming increased ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia Utilities