Based on thorough analysis by Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality, the state Water Control Board had a sufficient basis to certify reasonable assurance that the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project – and the restrictions and protective measures it included – would ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Environmental Judge William B. Traxler Jr.

Authorizations granted by U.S. Interior Department agencies for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline were arbitrary and capricious, failing to provide required explanations for key aspects of the underlying analysis. Background The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a 600-mile pipeline designed to transport ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Environmental Judge Roger L. Gregory

No remedy existed for condo owners who, unhappy with a roof renovation, wanted the city to inspect the work and cite the roofer.  After a second contractor made fixes, there was nothing for the city to inspect and no opportunity ...

Tagged with: Administrative Construction Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Municipal Standing Virginia Court of Appeals

Congress stripped district courts’ jurisdiction to hear the claims of landowners challenging provisions of the Natural Gas Act, under which Mountain Valley Pipeline obtained administrative approval to begin construction. The district court properly dismissed their suit. Background The Plaintiffs are ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Environmental Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

High school staff failed to timely respond to parents’ requests for disability testing, but an administrative fact finder reasonably concluded that the student’s poor scholastic record was caused by his frequent absences and disdain for teachers, not the violation. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Civil Rights Education Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Under three environmental statutes, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service improperly approved rights-of-way through federal lands for Mountain Valley Pipeline’s construction and operation of the largest pipeline of its kind to cross the Jefferson National Forest. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Environmental Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

In dismissing the Commonwealth’s civil-commitment petition, the trial court misapplied Code § 37.2-905.1. Moreover, dismissal was not supported by the evidence. Background Appellee Troy Giddens was convicted of carnal knowledge and attempted carnal knowledge in violation of Code §§ 18.2-26 ...

Tagged with: Administrative Criminal Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

Despite past efforts to improve its approach, the Department of Energy’s recommended analysis of economic hardship on small fuel refineries attempting to comply with federal renewable fuel standards is facially flawed. In considering a petition for a small-refinery exemption, the ...

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

A U.S. Department of Health & Human Services policy for “payment adjustment” calculations by hospitals serving disproportionately needy populations is legislative in nature and should have been promulgated through notice-and-comment rulemaking. Thus, the policy cannot be enforced against a Virginia ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Healthcare Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

The “Important Opinions” that appear each week on the front page of Virginia Lawyers Weekly are those chosen by our editors as the most likely to impact law practice or a given subject area of law. Below is a listing, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Banking Bankruptcy Civil Procedure Civil Rights Commercial Constitutional Consumer Protection Contract Corporate Criminal Domestic Relations Employment Evidence Federal Jurisdiction First Amendment Government Immigration Intellectual Property Personal Injury Real Property Search & Seizure Supreme Court of Virginia Traffic U.S. District Court - Eastern District U.S. District Court - Western District Virginia Circuit Courts Virginia Court of Appeals Wills & Trusts