Statements contained in appellant’s disciplinary form lacked the requisite “sting” to be actionable as defamation. Further, any republication of the statements and other statements made in proceedings before the Virginia Employment Commission are absolutely privileged. Overview Appellant Shannon was the ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

The jurisdictional limit of Virginia’s general district courts would go from $25,000 to $50,000 under a bill moving through the General Assembly. Senate Bill 1108 would double the maximum civil jurisdictional limit of general district courts. The present concurrent limit ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons General Assembly General District Court jurisdictional limit Sen. Bill Stanley

A divided Supreme Court of Virginia has acceded to a request from the governor to institute a second suspension of Virginia eviction proceedings. The new, four-week freeze was welcomed by legal aid housing advocates, but the court’s Aug. 7 published ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Coronavirus eviction Gov. Ralph Northam Housing Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a jury, after being instructed that the commonwealth had to prove its case by a preponderance of the evidence, determined that two members of a local electoral board should be removed from office, the trial court’s judgment on the ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Civil Practice Supreme Court of Virginia

A county school board lacked authority to require appellants and other persons homeschooling their children to provide the children’s birth certificates and proof of residency in the county. Background Appellants, the Sosebees, homeschool their children. Appellee, the Franklin County Board ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Civil Practice Supreme Court of Virginia

Just a day after statewide bar groups asked for action to move civil cases along during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court of Virginia responded with a new judicial emergency order May 6. The order drops any tolling of discovery ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Coronavirus Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court erred by striking plaintiff’s claims of excessive force, false arrest and illegal search against defendant police officer on the basis of sovereign and qualified immunity. Defendant did not challenge the jury’s findings that he was liable for ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Civil Rights Supreme Court of Virginia

Where appellant was convicted of destroying property worth $1,000 or more in violation of Code § 18.2-137, the prosecution met its burden to show that the fair market replacement value of the property exceeded the statutory requirement. Facts Appellant Spratley ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Criminal Supreme Court of Virginia

Whether welfare overpayments based on fraud meet the $200 statutory threshold for grand larceny is determined by calculating the difference between the benefits paid and the benefits that would have been paid absent any fraud. In this case, there was ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Criminal Supreme Court of Virginia

We have had numerous stories in the past two years about lawyer wellness, starting in late 2017 when Virginia’s Chief Justice, Donald W. Lemons, was a member of a national wellness task force. He brought the idea back to the ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Editor's Notebook Health & Wellness Justice William C. Mims