The Court of Appeals issued just four published opinion over the last three weeks -- as many as were released on April 2 of this year. During that same period, the Court released 47 unpublished opinions. Taken this admittedly unscientific sample, that means the Court is published only about 8% of its opinion. Your Humble Correspondent has been remiss in collecting data on the Court's opinions, and promises to do better in the future. However, this particular statistic has a personal meaning for YHC, because one of those unpublished opinions happened to be a case in which he represented the app ..read more

The Court of Appeals issued its first opinions of Spring over the last two weeks. The first case we summarize will possibly have you feeling a sneeze coming on as the pollen and grass mold fills the air. Several of these opinions also provide lessons in procedural default, which continues to be an issue despite countless CLEs on how to avoid it. City of Richmond v. Property Ventures, Inc. (April 2, 2024) involves the power of a local government to seek abatement of a nuisance and charge the property owner for the cost of the abatement. In this case, the property owner failed to keep unde ..read more

Before getting to the opinions released on February 27, 2024, a brief note about Terence Jerome Richardson, s/k/a Terrence Jerome Richardson v. Commonwealth of Virginia, which is an order directing that an evidentiary hearing be conducted in the case. The order is pursuant to a decision of the Supreme Court reversing a decision of the Court of Appeals that Richardson was ineligible for a writ of actual innocence. Samantha Maxine Stilwell v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (February 27, 2024) involves the racial-motivation enhancement for an assault and battery charge. The incident took place at a Wa ..read more

If I had been keeping up with my coverage of the Court of Appeals, I might have speculated whether the split decision in Mazie Green v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC (February 20, 2024) would result in a petition for rehearing en banc or an appeal to the Supreme Court. As I was not keeping up, however, we do not need to speculate, because the Court has granted the rehearing en banc already. Technically, this means I shouldn't summarize the now withdrawn panel opinion, but as it is likely the en banc will result in taking the view of either the majority or the dissent, let's dive in. Ms. G ..read more

The Court of Appeals handed two local governments victories in the opinions handed down February 13, 2024. In the first case, the government allowed a zoning change to permit the construction of a commercial business in an agricultural zone abutting a cemetery. In the latter, the Court upholds a determination that property owned by a church as not used for a religious purpose and, thus, was subject to taxation. https://youtu.be/DIqC5y1zm-4  Anne Edwards Hartley, et al. v. Board of Supervisors of Brunswick County, Virginia (February 13, 2024) involves the challenge to a zoning change to al ..read more

March 12, 2024 saw four published opinions from the Court of Appeals, and as no published opinions where handed down this week, we have reached the Final Four opinions of Operation Get Caught Up. Douglas Leon Miner v. Commonwealth of Virginia (March 12, 2024) involves a conviction for making a materially false statement on a criminal background check when making a firearms purchase. Miner entered into a deferred disposition plea on a charge of burglary. While the deferral was in place, Miner tried to purchase a rifle and in completing the background check responded "no" to the question “A ..read more

There was only one published decision from the Court of Appeals on March 5, 2024, but Dennis Christopher Howard v. Sheriff Roger L. Harris, et al. (March 5, 2024) had some high powered appellate advocates on brief including amici filed by the Virginia Trial Lawyers Associations, the Commonwealth and the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia. Why all the heavy artillery? Because this case involves the potential liability of the government for not adequately protecting a detained person who attempted suicide when he was able to get access to a gun while in custody; the gun was in the law enforc ..read more

It seems that it's not just in national politics that sore losers turn to the courts to seek some redress for an election loss. Amina Matheny-Willard ran against Ramin Fatehi in the Democratic primary for Commonwealth's Attorney for Norfolk in 2021. Only about 15,000 votes were cast and Matheny-Willard finished a distant third. Fatehi was unopposed in the general election. In 2023, Matheny-Willard posted on social media that she was starting her campaign for the 2025 election and needed plaintiffs "to file a document in order to hold the Commonwealth’s Attorney accountable." The document she f ..read more

School Districts have become the latest ideological battleground between America's competing factions on social issues. Carlos Ibanez, et al. v. Albemarle County School Board, et al. (February 20, 2024) is Virginia's most recent entry into the fray. The nature of the suit is a challenge to Albemarle County Schools new anti-racial discrimination policy and a challenge by a group of parents (for themselves and their children, and with support from the Alliance Defending Freedom) which asserts that the policy is actually discriminatory by treating minorities differently. To put it bluntly, this i ..read more

Virginia has quite a few electric cooperatives. Electric cooperatives are not-for-profit electric transmission providers which are owned by their customers, who are members of the cooperative. Like most cooperative companies, there can often be disputes between the leadership and the members. That was the case in Seth G. Heald, et al. v. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (February 13, 2024), an appeal from a granting of summary judgment for the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative which satisfied neither the company nor the members. The dispute was over the adoption of new bylaws to provide grea ..read more