The court will grant a petition for a writ of actual innocence based on biological evidence after considering records and evidence from the original trial, newly discovered DNA evidence and additional factual proffers from petitioner and the Commonwealth. Overview Scott ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia

A two-year statute of limitations bars a condominium association’s claims that former directors breached fiduciary duties, and conspired to do so, by failing to levy sufficient assessments to maintain reasonable reserve and operating accounts during their tenure. Further, the statute ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Published Order Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court correctly sanctioned petitioner because its challenge to an order “was not well grounded in fact and warranted by existing law or a good faith argument” to extend, modify or reverse existing law. But the court’s $20,000 sanction ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Published Order Supreme Court of Virginia

Where defendant petitioned for a writ of actual innocence based on nonbiological evidence, the Court of Appeals abused its discretion by dismissing the petition without ordering an evidentiary hearing. The appeals court concluded defendant did not prove the truth of ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

A defendant is not entitled to relief from mandatory three-year minimum sentences for his  convictions of cocaine distribution offenses because the evidence showed he possessed a firearm during the time that controlled buys were made at his home. Overview Under ...

Tagged with: Criminal Published Order Supreme Court of Virginia

Defendant was not entitled to a continuance under a statute that provides the court “shall” grant a reasonable continuance when a defendant represented by a court-appointed attorney becomes financially able to retain private counsel. The statute does not confer a ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court should have granted a construction company’s motion to compel arbitration after being sued by homeowners for allegedly defective construction. An arbitrator must interpret the arbitration clause in the parties’ contract and determine whether it is impossible to ...

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

Where a Canadian resident was sued in Loudoun Circuit Court for allegedly illegal use of a couple’s assets, the circuit court correctly concluded that because she did not engage in a “persistent course of conduct in Virginia,” she was not ...

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

Even though the appellee used his truck only once to sell drugs to an undercover informant, the truck had a “substantial connection” to the illegal distribution of a controlled substance and was subject to forfeiture under the applicable civil forfeiture ...

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

Where a historical society that was affiliated with a church hired a contractor to move and reconstruct a school, neither is liable for a workers’ compensation claim filed by a man the contractor hired to help with the job. The ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia Workers' Compensation