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

A regional jail authority is preliminarily enjoined from confiscating publications mailed to inmates by the Human Rights Defense Center. The policy banning delivery of such publications is not rationally related to any legitimate purpose identified by the defendants. Background Plaintiff ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional First Amendment Judge James P. Jones Prisons & Jails U.S. District Court - Western District

In 1871, Congress passed a law “directed at the organized terrorism in the Reconstruction South,” now codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1985. Over 140 years later, the Ku Klux Klan, various neo-Nazi organizations, and associated white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville. ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Federal Jurisdiction First Amendment Judge Norman K. Moon Second Amendment Tort U.S. District Court - Western District

A county’s former Director of Tourism presented genuine factual disputes as to whether he was fired in retaliation for his past vote to censure members of the county board of supervisors who voted to raise taxes. Background At a Bedford ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Due Process Employment Employment Discrimination First Amendment Judge Norman K. Moon Municipal U.S. District Court - Western District

Based on her responsibilities as set forth in the Virginia Code, a school board’s Director of Budget & Finance was a “public official” who had to show actual malice to prove that a TV news station defamed her. She failed ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Defamation Employment First Amendment Judge Henry F. Floyd Personal Injury Tort

A company waived the confidentiality of its business information presented at trial. First Amendment principles and the company’s failure to follow Local Rule 5(C) also weighed against sealing the records. Background In this products liability action, a jury trial was ...

Tagged with: Business Law Civil Procedure Constitutional First Amendment Judge Robert E. Payne Public Records U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Animal rights groups sufficiently alleged an injury-in-fact to support their standing to challenge a recent North Carolina statute allowing employers to hold their employees civilly liable for damage caused by unauthorized access to nonpublic areas. Background The North Carolina Property ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment Per Curiam Opinion Standing

Under clearly established law, publication of public safety officers’ allegedly defamatory termination letters to the media before holding a name-clearing hearing supported the officers’ claims of due process violations. Background During the summer of 2014, Officers with the Bald Head ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Defamation Due Process First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Tort

A city ordinance empowering the police chief to deny a “sexually oriented business” license application if he determined that the business “would not comply with all applicable laws” was an overbroad prior restraint. Background The City of Rocky Mount, North ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional First Amendment Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Municipal

A black mannequin hanging from a noose in the defendant’s front yard was in a “public place” because it was clearly visible from a public road. Background Appellant Jack Eugene Turner lived on property adjoining a public road. Several other ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal First Amendment Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Supreme Court of Virginia