Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where the circuit court sustained, on the basis of absolute privilege, appellee’s demurrers to claims arising from a lis pendens filing on property, this was error. Absolute privilege is an affirmative defense, which may not be raised in a demurrer. ...

Tagged with: Justice William C. Mims Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

A holdover tenant owes a landlord rent for the period of occupancy after the lease expires. The law implies a contract to pay even if there is no oral or written agreement. Background Tran, the plaintiff, leased property to Lewis ...

Tagged with: Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the county zoning administrator and the Board of Zoning Appeals determined that landowners were illegally parking and storing construction vehicles on their commercially zoned properties, the ruling is reversed. The administrator and the BZA used an incorrect definition of ...

Tagged with: Virginia Circuit Courts Zoning

The commonwealth has the authority to remove a state-owned monument from state owned property. The monument is a form of government speech. To the extent that the document conveying the property to the state and a legislative resolution accepting the ...

Tagged with: Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court correctly upheld the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ amendment of the county’s zoning ordinance, and the imposition of a two percent lodging tax on short-term rentals of residential homes. Zoning amendments Appellants (hosts) are a group of ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia Taxation

A historic foundation did not show that it suffered a particularized harm different than that of the general public when the Alexandria City Council approved permits to renovate property located in a historic district. As a result, the foundation was ...

Tagged with: Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the defendants allegedly promised to finance the plaintiff’s purchase of real property, but never provided the promised funds, the claims for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation and tortious interference with contract survived the motion to dismiss. Background In 2018, Potomac Auto ...

Tagged with: Judge Liam O'Grady Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a department store was in possession and control of the leased premises when torrential rains resulted in a collapsed roof, an injured employee and considerable damage to inventory, its attempt to recover costs failed because the landlord had no ...

Tagged with: Commercial Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where plaintiff, a commercial owners association, based its assessments on the total square footage of defendant member’s property instead of the developed portion only, this was in accordance with the parties’ contract. As a result, when defendant did not fully ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Jeanette A. Irby Loudon Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where land was conveyed to a church under an 1875 deed that provided the land would revert to the grantors or their heirs if it was not used for church purposes, this was not an unreasonable restraint on alienation. As ...

Tagged with: Justice William C. Mims Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia