The Supreme Court of Virginia has confirmed the wide reaching application of motions craving oyer to support demurrer practice in Virginia civil litigation. Despite a handful of recent circuit court rulings limiting oyer motions to deeds and probate matters, the ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a homeowner in a historic district challenged the denial of his proposed renovations, the trial court properly granted the city’s motion craving oyer of the legislative record before the city council when it affirmed the board of architectural (BAR) ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

Where appellant admitted he had received a methadone treatment before a fatal traffic accident and his blood tested positive for Valium and Xanax, this was sufficient evidence to find the drugs were “self-administered” and to sustain convictions for aggravated involuntary ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

Although the police were not required to give Miranda warnings to defendant before questioning him while executing a search warrant, the warnings provided were constitutionally sufficient. Facts Defendant Spinner’s father-in-law was a murder victim. Spinner and the victim’s daughter, Tamara, ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the evidence supported an inference that defendant railroad’s negligence played a part in producing plaintiff employee’s injuries, the court correctly sent the causation issue to the jury in this Federal Employers’ Liability Act case. A $336,293 verdict for the ...

Tagged with: Justice Charles S. Russell Negligence Supreme Court of Virginia

A fourth-grade teacher’s fall from a school bus during a summer trip to visit students entitled her to workers’ compensation. Background Claimant worked for employer as a fourth-grade teacher. In August 2016, while visiting incoming students at daycare centers and ...

Tagged with: Justice Charles S. Russell Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

A woman who accidentally fired into her first-floor hotel room was culpable under Virginia’s unlawful discharge statute. Law enforcement had just persuaded her not to commit suicide, but her gun went off as she was putting it down. Background After ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

Although defendant said he warned his nephew that he had a loaded gun and would harm him if the nephew didn’t stop knocking at defendant’s door, and that he “shot high” and just wanted to go to bed, his conviction ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirms an award of $1,805 in sanctions against a lawyer who relied on a written “representation agreement” with a client to garnish her wages; the attorney filed a suggestion in garnishment to divert the client’s ...

Tagged with: Creditor's Rights Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia has affirmed an award of sanctions against a Loudoun County law firm and directed the trial court to tack on additional sanctions for what it termed a “meritless appeal.” The Sterling firm had sought to ...

Tagged with: Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia