Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

A plaintiff who said he contacted Dish merely to comparison shop for TV plans sufficiently alleged a consumer-protection claim against the company, arising from an inquiry that appeared on his credit report that the company failed to have removed. Background ...

Tagged with: Consumer Protection Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

After a trip to his native U.K., a lawful permanent resident in the U.S. was denied admission upon his return, based on a seven-year-old conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. His removal order was ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Immigration Judge G. Steven Agee

A numismatics lobbying group that intentionally imported ancient coins under international trade restrictions was unsuccessful in challenging forfeiture of the coins. Abuse of discretion is the appropriate standard for reviewing lower-court decisions to strike pleadings. Background In 1970, the U.S. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Judge Robert B. King

Evidence was sufficient to convict a former Norfolk city councilman who had been involved in numerous quid pro quo relationships with local developers for many years. The district court also did not err in declining to grant a new trial. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Albert Diaz

A district court properly dismissed constitutional challenges to Virginia’s civil interdiction process, which can lead to criminal penalties for possession, consumption, or purchase of alcoholic beverages by individuals subject to a civil interdiction order. Background Virginia regulates the consumption, purchase, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Due Process Eighth Amendment Equal Protection Fourteenth Amendment Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

The circuit court did not err in concluding that a 12-year-old girl who had been fostered for two years by the same family, along with her siblings, should not be placed instead with her incarcerated father’s mother. The father’s family ...

Tagged with: Parental Rights Per Curiam Opinion Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

Despite significant compliance with social services requirements to reunite with her five living children, a mother had not substantially remedied the conditions that required them to be placed in foster care. She had not seen the children since they were ...

Tagged with: Family Law Parental Rights Per Curiam Opinion Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

A circuit court had jurisdiction to decide a merger dispute between two churches. Resolution centered on the parties’ merger agreement, not their religious doctrines or other ecclesiastical questions. Background After falling behind on its mortgage payments, Pure Presbyterian Church of ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Contract Declaratory Judgment First Amendment Justice Stephen R. McCullough Real Property Supreme Court of Virginia

An Amazon warehouse employee who beat up a coworker based on the victim’s sexual orientation couldn’t be convicted of a federal hate crime, though the jury delivered a guilty verdict. The act didn’t affect interstate commerce and, thus, was outside ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge John A. Gibney Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A couple who got a license to marry in Virginia but held their ceremony in Washington, D.C. was not legally married, despite living together as husband and wife for nine years. Their one-night hotel stay in D.C. after the ceremony ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Rosemarie Annunziata Virginia Court of Appeals