When a BMW store applied for a renovation permit but then performed a demolition instead, the City of Rockville, Maryland, revoked the previously-granted permit. The company’s initial permit applications contained material misrepresentations, so it had no property interest that could ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Business Law Constitutional Due Process Judge Glen E. Conrad Municipal Real Estate

The automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment does not permit a police officer, uninvited and without a warrant, to enter the curtilage of a home in order to search a vehicle parked therein. Background Albemarle Police Officer McCall saw the ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor Search & Seizure U.S. Supreme Court

When a jury asked whether they could award “legal fees” as compensatory damages, the circuit court abused its discretion by declining to answer the question and simply telling them they had to enter a numeral on the verdict form. Background ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Constitutional Per Curiam Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia

Gavin Grimm, who attended a Virginia public high school and was prohibited from using the boys’ bathroom because he was identified as female at birth, sufficiently alleged discrimination claims against the school under both Title IX and the Equal Protection ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Education Equal Protection Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen Municipal U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Waterfront property owners who brought a groundless claim against their neighbor for working as a state agent to create a special tax district are liable for his attorneys’ fees. Background In this action, the Plaintiffs allege that Defendant Frank Gurdziel ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Civil Practice Constitutional Due Process Judge Robert G. Doumar Municipal Real Estate Real Property U.S. District Court - Eastern District

This case arises out of a constitutional challenge to Virginia Code § 46.2-395, pursuant to which anyone who fails to pay court costs or fines imposed after a conviction is subject to suspension of his or her driver’s license. The ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Constitutional Due Process Equal Protection Judge Henry F. Floyd

The defendant’s conviction for possession of a weapon by a violent felon did not violate his rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause, notwithstanding his previous acquittal by jury of the separate offenses of use of a firearm in the commission ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

In a takings dispute as to the damage value to the remainder property, the trial court erred in excluding only the government’s appraiser, when the property owner’s expert’s opinion was admitted without a superior basis. Background In 2014, the Commissioner ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Eminent Domain Evidence Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Real Estate Real Property Supreme Court of Virginia

Although a forensic search of a digital phone is a “non-routine” border search that requires an individualized suspicion of illegal activity, CBP agents had such reasonable suspicion when they seized a suspected weapons smuggler’s phone and extracted communications data and ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris Search & Seizure

In a defendant’s motion to dismiss his criminal indictment for illegal re-entry, he was entitled to some meaningful review of a deportation proceeding upon which his criminal prosecution was based. While he prevailed on his constitutional claim, he could not ...

Tagged with: Administrative Constitutional Criminal Due Process Immigration Judge M. Hannah Lauck U.S. District Court - Eastern District