A defendant who filed a motion to avoid a mandatory minimum sentence shortly before his sentencing hearing began was entitled to have the circuit court consider it on the merits. The court’s refusal to do so because the motion was ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a trustee accepted a $20,900 bid at a foreclosure sale for property assessed at $436,800, the debtor has stated a claim for breach of implied fiduciary duties arising from a deed of trust. The circuit court erred by characterizing ...

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

While a doctor involved in litigation with the City of Virginia Beach was not entitled to entries in the city’s legal invoices that would reveal confidential information, litigation strategy, work product or legal advice, the court found the city withheld ...

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

In considering the defendant’s appeal of a circuit court order continuing forced medication to render him competent to stand trial, the court concluded that the determination of competency is “part of [a] purely criminal process,” and the appeal is criminal ...

Tagged with: Criminal Per Curiam Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia

The court rejected the defendant’s argument that, because he was inside the car when he shot its occupant, he could not be guilty of firing shots “at” an occupied vehicle. The court found this argument contrary to the straightforward meaning ...

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

The “Important Opinions” that appear each week on the front page of Virginia Lawyers Weekly are those chosen by our editors as the most likely to impact law practice or a given subject area of law. Below is a listing, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Banking Bankruptcy Civil Procedure Civil Rights Commercial Constitutional Consumer Protection Contract Corporate Criminal Domestic Relations Employment Evidence Federal Jurisdiction First Amendment Government Immigration Intellectual Property Personal Injury Real Property Search & Seizure Supreme Court of Virginia Traffic U.S. District Court - Eastern District U.S. District Court - Western District Virginia Circuit Courts Virginia Court of Appeals Wills & Trusts

Although a Virginia city claimed it had special concerns about releasing legal bills to a litigation opponent, the Supreme Court of Virginia found no reason to alter the usual standards for attorney-client and work product materials. In a Dec. 6 ...

Tagged with: FOIA Freedom of Information Act Supreme Court of Virginia

A holding company for a Madison County winery that defaulted on a commercial loan, and whose collateral was seized by the bank, could not assert the bank breached a contract because the company’s interpretation was contrary to the reasonable meaning ...

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

Where two parties modified their own real estate contract, allegedly to the detriment of a non-party, the lower court erred by ruling in favor of the non-party on its tortious interference claim because parties cannot tortiously interfere with their own ...

Tagged with: Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

A man with two firearms convictions was required to serve his sentences consecutively, not concurrently, according to the plain language of statute. Background On Aug. 1, 2016, Botkin was indicted by a grand jury for two counts of possession of ...

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