The VLW Blog

“This is not a game of ‘Gotcha,’ ” insisted Senior Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy. “We want to deal with substantive issues.”
But she acknowledged that the two state appellate courts are refusing to address more and more of those issues because of procedural defaults. She said she didn’t know whether the blame lay […]

[Read more →]

Washington & Lee Law School has announced that Virginia Supreme Court Justice Donald Lemons will teach appellate practice in the school’s third year program. From the news release: “The outstanding faculty at Washington and Lee University School of Law are pursuing a bold new dynamic in legal education that is long overdue,” said […]

[Read more →]

The Salem-Roanoke County Bar Association has recommended veteran Roanoke Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein for a pending seat on the Supreme Court of Virginia. As noted by WDBJ, Gov. Kaine gets to make the pick on who to succeed Salem’s Steven Agee, who will join the 4th Circuit later this summer.

[Read more →]

A judge erred in telling jurors that he could lower their sentencing recommendation but not increase it, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today.
The judge’s comment came in response the question, “Can the [judge] alter the sentence[?]” Justice Barbara Milano Keenan said the Supreme Court draws a distinction between instructions that further the goal […]

[Read more →]

Failures to communicate were the keys to two medical malpractice cases decided today in favor oF plaintiffs by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
In one, Williams v. Le, a diagnostic radiologist never reported directly to the treating physician or his staff that a Doppler sonogram showed that a patient had a deep vein thrombosis in […]

[Read more →]

Bummer if you were looking for the Supreme Court of Virginia to really decide three closely watched cases: Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins, which appeared to raise the issue of whether Virginia courts will defer to courts of another state on issues involving same sex couples, and Moreau v. Fuller and Gibson v. Commonwealth, which presented the […]

[Read more →]

It’s been a long journey for the parties in the case of Simmons v. MTD and the end is not in sight. 4-year-old Justin Simmons was killed by a riding lawnmower in 2004. In 2006, a Roanoke jury returned a $2 million verdict against the maker of the lawnmower. The defendant […]

[Read more →]

Taboada v. Daily Seven, the premises liability case that greatly expanded the potential liability of hotel operators, has been settled. The case is perhaps better known for the intemperate petition for a rehearing filed by a Roanoke attorney that earned him a contempt citation and a fine from the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Roanoke Times has […]

[Read more →]

The Supreme Court of Virginia has granted a rehearing petition in the case of the country’s first felony spam conviction. As explained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the issue is whether Virginia’s anti-spam law is unconstitutional on its face.

[Read more →]

The nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Steven Agee to the federal appeals bench has turned into a political football as U.S. senators wage their long-running battle over judicial nominations. Despite the wrangling, however, there is no suggestion that the prospects for Agee’s confirmation are threatened.
The skirmishing plays out against a background of political […]

[Read more →]