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

No Virginia precedent sets forth specific types of evidence that must be proven to show lascivious intent in a sexual battery case. Such intent may be proven with any evidence that establishes such intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Background Four-year-old ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

An award of nearly $38 million to a truck operator, who was severely injured when one of his tires blew out, was for the most part not excessive. The verdict was supported by the evidence, except for approximately $67,500 to ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Robert E. Payne Personal Injury U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A written agreement between a corporation and the government preserved the company’s attorney-client privilege and work-product protection for information that the general counsel of a subsidiary entity disclosed to the government. Background Several years ago, federal prosecutors opened a grand ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Business Law Contract Criminal Evidence Judge Roger L. Gregory

Evidence was sufficient to convict the defendant of possession of heroin with intent to distribute when he sped away from police in his car and fled into the woods, where police later found a bag of heroin. The defendant also ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The defendant’s Confrontation Clause challenge to the trial court’s evidentiary exclusions under Virginia’s rape-shield law were not raised in the proceedings below and, in any event, did not rise above the level of harmless error. Background Appellant Michael Maldini and ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Evidence Judge Randolph A. Beales Sixth Amendment Virginia Court of Appeals

After taking more than six months of medical leave before her employment was terminated, a bank teller failed to establish a prima facie case for age discrimination. Her medical leave followed a position change that she mistakenly believed was a ...

Tagged with: Employment Employment Discrimination Evidence Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

Experts’ calculation and application of statistical significance (p-values) must be relevant, reliable, and not likely to confuse jurors. After plaintiffs’ expert opinions were excluded, their non-expert evidence was not sufficient to survive summary judgment, and the district court appropriately granted ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Evidence Judge Albert Diaz Personal Injury

A defendant convicted of attempted murder and other offenses failed to show that he was denied a speedy trial. Because the parties offered conflicting hearing transcripts and no audio, the court could not resolve what defense counsel agreed to, and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Virginia Court of Appeals

In convictions on two possession counts, the Commonwealth was not required to prove that the defendant knowingly and intentionally possessed two different controlled substances, heroin and fentanyl, when both substances were contained within a single capsule that appeared visually uniform. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Randolph A. Beales Virginia Court of Appeals