A recent college grad sought to expunge records related to her 2014 arrest after she drank to excess and was charged with assault and battery of a law-enforcement officer. The circuit court abused its discretion in denying expungement based primarily ...

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

An attorney-in-fact was not liable for his wife’s improper withdrawal from an account she shared with the decedent, but he was still liable to the decedent’s estate for money damages in the amount of funds he wrongfully deposited into his ...

Tagged with: Per Curiam Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Appellant Victoria Dufresne was indicted for robbery but convicted of grand larceny. The trial court denied Dufresne’s motion to set aside the verdict on the ground that grand larceny is not a lesser-included offense of robbery. The court of appeals ...

Tagged with: Criminal Per Curiam Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court erred in granting summary judgment against a plaintiff whose only expert as to both standard of care and causation was wrongly excluded. The expert should have been permitted to testify because she met both the knowledge and ...

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

The circuit court did not abuse its discretion in denying an incarcerated man’s petition to change his name, following a religious conversion. The court reasoned that the name change was antithetical to his sentencing. Background Appellant Brian Wendell Jordan is ...

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

The Departmet was justified in terminating an agent’s employment after he searched the business office of a license applicant without her consent or a warrant. Background Linda K. Swim applied to Appellee Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for an ...

Tagged with: Administrative Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Supreme Court of Virginia

The plaintiff’s medical expert, who was proffered only to opine on the standard of care in performing a hysterectomy, could not present testimony on whether and how the patient’s outcome would have been different had the defendant called for a ...

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

An argument by the testator’s son that she was competent to name him as her attorney-in-fact did not bar his later claim that she was not competent to execute her will only a few months later. Background In June 2012, ...

Tagged with: Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

The daughter and sister of a woman who died due to surgery complications lacked personal knowledge as to whether their mother knew of alternatives to surgery or whether she would have elected such alternatives had she known. Background In 2011, ...

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

A circuit court’s decision was not grounds for res judicata in a separate action, when the earlier matter remained pending on the court’s docket and contained no other language indicating it was a final decision on the merits. Background In ...

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