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Administrative

Bottle of wine being removed from case
Sep 25, 2023

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.

Sep 11, 2023

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[...]

Sep 6, 2023

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[...]

Sep 6, 2023

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 […]

Aug 20, 2023

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 […]

Aug 15, 2023

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 […]

Aug 15, 2023

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 […]

Aug 7, 2023

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 […]

Jul 27, 2023

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[...]

Jul 18, 2023

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 […]

Jul 18, 2023

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 […]

Jul 4, 2023

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 […]

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