Weekly Edition
Concerns raised that scanning includes clients’ personal info
By Peter Vieth
May 5, 2008
As Virginia court clerks begin to make electronic case records available in their offices and even online for members of the bar, officials hope to reassure lawyers that electronic court records are no more publicly available than the old paper records.
Some lawyers have expressed concern that the digital scanning of records will lead to their […]
Slip-and-fall scores $1.3M in Richmond
By Peter Vieth
May 5, 2008
A Richmond slip-and-fall plaintiff last month scored a $1.3 million verdict in a case alleging failure to clear snow and ice from a business parking lot. According to plaintiff’s lawyer David Epperly, it may be the second highest slip-and-fall verdict in Richmond Circuit Court. Epperly himself holds the record at $1.5 million.
According to Epperly’s […]
Lawyers’ convictions reversed
By Deborah Elkins
May 5, 2008
Two Virginia Beach lawyers and their law clerk have won reversals of summary contempt convictions that carried jail time.
In Scialdone v. Commonwealth (VLW 008-7-199), the Virginia Court of Appeals said the lawyers’ conduct in apparently proffering a fraudulent document at a criminal trial offered grounds for contempt findings.
But the trial judge’s extra efforts to […]
Enforce the rules: Kelsey takes strict line on procedure
By Peter Vieth
May 5, 2008
ROANOKE—Lawyers seeking mercy for their procedural mistakes will find no comfort from Virginia Court of Appeals Judge D. Arthur Kelsey. Kelsey brought his crusade for unapologetic strict rule enforcement to a Roanoke bench-bar meeting last month, saying the Virginia bar is starting to come around to his view.
Kelsey welcomes what he sees as a new […]
Court: A weak brief is not jurisdictional error
By Peter Vieth
May 5, 2008
You’ve been doing it wrong, and maybe we have, too, but it’s time to get it right, says the Supreme Court of Virginia in an opinion directed to the Court of Appeals’ handling of undeveloped appeal arguments.
The opinion, Jay v. Commonwealth (VLW 008-6-040), seems to highlight differences between jurists who favor swift and certain […]
Employers: Revisit your Family Leave policies
By Mary Elizabeth Davis
May 5, 2008
In January, President Bush signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008. Among other things, the NDAA amends the Family Medical Leave Act to permit a “spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin” to take up to 26 weeks of leave to care for a member of the Armed Forces, including […]
Letter to the Editor
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
May 5, 2008
Dear Editor:
John H. “Jay” Underwood II, founding Public Defender for the City of Portsmouth, recently lost an 18-month battle to pancreatic cancer, a fight he took on as strongly as he took on prosecutors seeking to convict his clients. (See obituary, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, March 10, 2008).
Jay opened the Portsmouth Public Defender’s Office in 1986 […]
The VLW Web site instruction manual: Opinions
By Sarah Rodriguez
May 5, 2008
Second in a series of articles on how to use to the new Virginia Lawyers Weekly Web site.
Since Virginia Lawyers Weekly first hit the presses almost 22 years ago, we’ve been the commonwealth’s leading source in digesting and providing full-text copies of court opinions to our readers. But only in the past few months has […]
Crime Commission to begin examination of gun show sales
By News in Brief
May 5, 2008
The Virginia State Crime Commission will take a limited look at the private sale of guns at shows, which has been criticized by advocates of gun control.
In Virginia, private sellers at gun shows don’t have to run background checks of prospective customers. Some demanded the so-called loophole be closed after the Virginia Tech killings.
But proponents […]
Gov. Kaine to call June roads session
By News in Brief
May 5, 2008
Legislators will return to Richmond one more time this year, said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
Kaine said in a radio interview on April 24 that within the next two weeks he will call a special session on transportation funding for the last two weeks in June.
Kaine wouldn’t elaborate on Richmond’s WRVA radio what he will propose […]
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