Where appellant failed to pay his court costs, the Court of Appeals correctly affirmed the circuit court’s revocation of his deferred disposition and his conviction for possessing heroin. Background After his arrest for possessing heroin, Smallwood made a plea agreement ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia

Paramedics who failed to thoroughly read a man’s advance directive have immunity from the wrongful death suit filed by his sister, the Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled, upholding a decision from Smyth County. The trial court found the paramedics ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Negligence Supreme Court of Virginia Wrongful Death

Although the circuit court concluded that paramedics who failed to thoroughly read the decedent’s advanced directives were “clearly negligent, and probably grossly negligent,” the court correctly concluded they were entitled to immunity from plaintiff’s wrongful death suit. This is the ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia

We affirm the Court of Appeals’ determination that claimant was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, even though the court used an incorrect analysis to reach its conclusion. The appeals court ruled that claimant’s injury occurred during a four-hour period, and ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia Workers' Compensation

Where a truck driver was killed at a stone quarry when a machine malfunctioned, the circuit court incorrectly characterized the machine as “ordinary building material” and applied the five-year statute of repose, Code § 8.01-250, to dismiss the case as ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court correctly upheld the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ amendment of the county’s zoning ordinance, and the imposition of a two percent lodging tax on short-term rentals of residential homes. Zoning amendments Appellants (hosts) are a group of ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia Taxation

Where appellant was convicted of sex crimes, including custodial sexual abuse, involving a 7-year-old child, “child pornography titles” found on his computer were properly admitted as evidence. The probative value of this evidence regarding “conduct or attitude towards the victim, ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia

A board of county supervisors lacked authority to dissolve an emergency medical service’s corporate status and distribute its assets. The service was a private nonstock corporation, rather than being established under the statute granting the county board the power to ...

Tagged with: Corporations Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia

Where appellant sought a partition of a home she and her siblings inherited, the trial court correctly ruled that she could not obtain an attorney’s fee under the partition statute from her unrepresented siblings. Background In 2012, despite their deceased ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a school bus driver and a bus aide assaulted a special needs student while he harnessed to a bus seat, no uninsured motorist coverage is due from a policy defendant issued to the student’s mother. There was no causal ...

Tagged with: Contract Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia