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Wine shipper must have separate licenses for each shipping location
Distributors of alcoholic beverages in Virginia must have a separate license from the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, or Virginia ABC, for “each separate place of business” that ships beverages straight to customers, the Court of Appeals of Virginia has held.
County not liable for minor’s private day facility tuition
Where a hearing officer correctly concluded, after a seven-day hearing that included 18 witnesses, 198 exhibits and post-hearing briefs, and which resulted in a 59-page decision, that private school placement for a minor was unnecessary because the public special education that Fairfax County Public Schools provided satisfied the statutory requirements, her decision was affirmed. Background [&hell[...]
Wine shipper must have separate license for each site
Where the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act requires a separate license for each place of business “‘where the manufacture, bottling, distribution, use or sale of alcoholic beverages shall be performed[,]'” appellee wine shipper’s Virginia license issued to its California business does not cover other locations where appellee’s vendors fulfill customer orders. Online orders R[...]
Permit approval for contractor’s yard reversed
Where a county board of supervisors denied appellees’ application for a special exemption to operate a contractor’s yard, the circuit court incorrectly reversed the decision. Appellants correctly “argue that the circuit court erred by ruling that [appellants] rebutted the presumptive validity of the Board’s decision and that the Board’s decision to deny the application was […]
Disability benefits wrongly denied to applicant
Where an administrative law judge, or ALJ, found that an applicant for disability insurance benefits did not have a moderate limitation in the domain of concentration, persistence and pace, but that conclusion was not supported by substantial evidence, it was vacated and remanded. Background Evelyn S. filed this action challenging the final decision of the […]
Remand ordered in insurance benefits case
Where a state trooper grieved his termination and a hearing officer reinstated him to his position, a remand is necessary to determine whether the Department of State Police complied with certain aspects of the grievance award. Substitute premiums “DSP argues the court erred by ordering it to reimburse Brendel for substitute health insurance premiums he […]
No judicial review of administrative fact finding
Where the Virginia Department of Corrections issued appellant “a written notice of disciplinary action, demoted him, reduced his pay, and transferred him to a different VDOC facility,” the circuit court, sitting as an appeals court, correctly refused to review a hearing officer’s factual determinations. Background Appellant Haley worked at a women’s correctional facility in a […]
Social Security claimant awarded attorneys’ fees
Where a man showed his claim for disability benefits was improperly denied by the Social Security Administration, he was awarded his attorney’s fees as a prevailing plaintiff under the Equal Access to Justice Act, or EAJA. Background Robert Franklin Lester filed this action challenging the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, denying the […]
Police department complied with grievance requirements
Where petitioner, a former county police officer who was “unsatisfactorily separated from service” following a fatal shooting, alleges that the county executive incorrectly determined that his Step 1 grievance meeting did not comply with certain personnel regulations, the executive’s decisions are upheld. Allegations Shifflett, a former officer with the Fairfax County Police Departme[...]
Court dismisses veteran’s suit over disability rating
Where a man claimed that defendants evaluating him for disability benefits actually discriminated against him, but his suit appeared to challenge the resulting disability determination, and was time-barred in any event, it was dismissed. Background Casel F. Lucas, a Virginia detainee and military veteran, filed a pro se complaint against Andrea Whitlaw and Dr. Robert […]
No jurisdiction due to invalid appeal petition
Even assuming that petitioners timely filed an appeal petition with the circuit court, the petition lacked the content required by Rule 2A:4. As a result, the court sustains respondents’ demurrer because the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Background After administrative proceedings, the Virginia Department of Education, or VDOE, issued a final order on […]
Substantial evidence supports denial of benefits
Where the Social Security Administration determined that a man who had been receiving supplemental social security income since he was nine, because of his sickle cell disease and associated pain, was no longer eligible for such benefits after he turned 18, and its decision was supported by substantial evidence, it was affirmed. Background Daton Bumbrey […]
Verdicts & Settlements
- Plaintiff injured in crash with oncoming vehicle — $235,000 settlement
- Driver killed in rear-end collision with tractor-trailer — $1.5M settlement
- Man died from pancreatic cancer after delayed response — $1.8M settlement
- Worker fell off roof, rendering him a paraplegic — $1.25M settlement
- Driver sustained permanent hearing loss after traffic collision — $240,000 settlement
- Plaintiff suffered concussion in rear-end collision — $81,000 verdict
- Builder misrepresented home status to buyers — $675,000 verdict
- Low potassium led to cardiac arrest, death of patient — $1M settlement
- Excessive propofol caused death in dialysis patient — $850,000 settlement
- Pedestrian struck in crosswalk in hit-and-run incident — $300,000 settlement
- Navy veteran killed in collision with box truck — $1.85M arbitration award
- Motorcyclist ejected from bike in collision with SUV — $1.5M settlement
Opinion Digests
- Company owner dodges breach of contract suit
- Employee’s own allegations doom minimum wage claim
- Federal government defeats former employee’s claims
- Principal wasn’t entitled to exclusively remote work
- USPTO properly redacted info in responsive documents
- Untimely lawsuit allowed to proceed
- Engineering consultant dismissed from suit
- Rule 60 motion was filed too late
- Nonprofit directors immune from ex-employees’ claims
- City, employees immune from whistleblower claims
- Experts excluded in condemnation damages suit
- Judgment entered against company for horse’s death
