Where the highway commissioner sought to take property for a road improvement project, the trial court properly excluded a landowner’s testimony and an unapproved 10-year-old site plan to establish compensation for the taking. Background Palmyra Associates owned a 44-acre unimproved ...

Tagged with: Justice Stephen R. McCullough Real Estate Supreme Court of Virginia

After accepting two criminal appeals in order to clarify the test for applying a statutory bar to successive prosecution, the Supreme Court of Virginia split on both the proper test and the way the majority applied its test. The result ...

Tagged with: firearm possession Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

Where petitioners lease oyster grounds from the commonwealth, the circuit court correctly dismissed their inverse condemnation claim, which alleged that municipal sewage discharges polluted the water in which they raise oysters. Overview Petitioners lease publicly owned bottomland in the Nansemond ...

Tagged with: Contract Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

Where appellants were previously convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, Code § 19.2-294 does not prevent their subsequent prosecutions and convictions for being felons in possession of a firearm. Overview In separate prosecutions, Evans and Conway were each convicted of ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

License plate data retained in the Fairfax County Police Department’s Automated License Plate Recognition System is not an “information system” under the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act. The record-keeping process does not “provide a means through which a ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court properly granted defendants’ demurrers to plaintiff’s claim against them for the tort of interference with parental rights. Further, plaintiff’s defamation claim against one defendant is dismissed because the complained-of statements are not actionable. Facts Michael Wilson and ...

Tagged with: Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

Statutes that require motor vehicles to be covered by a minimum of $50,000 in liability and property damage insurance do not prevent a self-insured school board from contracting for a great amount of coverage, and do not limit coverage to ...

Tagged with: Insurance Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

In a suit to recover towing and other charges associated with righting a dump truck, recovering its load, remediating contaminated soil, and removing the truck and the soil from the scene, the jury’s damage award must be reduced. The remedy ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court lost jurisdiction to hear a motion to modify appellant’s sentence once the Virginia Department of Corrections took him into custody. Overview Appellant Akers received a three-year sentence, with two years and six months suspended, for being a ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

The Court of Appeals correctly affirmed appellant’s conviction under the hit and run statute after determining there was sufficient evidence to show that he failed to satisfy either of the two post-accident reporting requirements. However, the Court of Appeals should ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Justice Stephen R. McCullough Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia