Where a married couple owned their home as tenants by the entirety and retitled the property to separate revocable trusts as tenants in common, fire insurance claim payments can be garnished to satisfy a judgment against one of the owners. ...

Tagged with: Contract Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia

An appeal bristling with issues of attorney-client privilege, perilous surveillance technology and the scope of a Virginia “revenge porn” law could be dead in its tracks because the appellant paid off the trial court judgment. The Supreme Court of Virginia ...

Tagged with: Attorney-client privilege Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia

Where appellee claims that the voluntary payment doctrine moots appellant’s appeals regarding a judgment entered against her, a remand is required for fact finding to determine whether appellant authorized payment of the judgment lien that attached to real estate that ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the parties’ amended property settlement agreement required husband to maintain wife as a 50% beneficiary of a life insurance policy, wife’s claim to the insurance proceeds is governed by equity principles rather than substantive law. Wife’s equitable claim is ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia

Where an acquisition company purchased a construction company’s assets, the purchase included equitable title to stock that the construction company owned but for which no certificates were issued. Overview This is an interpleader action concerning the proceeds of stock certificates ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia, by a 4-3 margin, has agreed with plaintiffs’ lawyers that a lawsuit targeting the alleged negligence of a driver could be revived after nonsuit even though the plaintiff initially named the car’s owner and not ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Justice William C. Mims Negligence Supreme Court of Virginia

Where appellant, relying on a police report, named the wrong person as the defendant driver in a personal injury case, appellant was entitled to file a new complaint naming the correct person after the statute of limitations expired. Background On ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

A divided Supreme Court of Virginia has acceded to a request from the governor to institute a second suspension of Virginia eviction proceedings. The new, four-week freeze was welcomed by legal aid housing advocates, but the court’s Aug. 7 published ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Coronavirus eviction Gov. Ralph Northam Housing Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a retailer petitioned to aggregate its stores’ electric power demand to enable the purchase of electricity from private utilities, the State Corporate Commission properly denied the petition because it was not in the public interest. Overview Wal-Mart appeals from ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Public Utilities Supreme Court of Virginia

A beneficiary’s declaratory action to determine rights and duties did not violate a trust’s no-contest clause. Background Charles and Theresa Hunter had two children, Chip and Eleanor, and a granddaughter. Charles and Theresa each created trusts naming the children and ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts