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Southwest Virginia Law Blog

Items of interest to lawyers in Southwest Virginia and beyond.
By Steven R. Minor

Post Frequency: 2.3/day

Last Entry: July 09, 2020 at 12:40:00

Judge Farmer out?

Posted on January 24, 2008
This VLW Blog post said that Senator Puckett has declared his opposition to the reappointment of Judge John Farmer of the J & DR court in the district of Buchanan, Dickenson, Tazewell, and Russell counties.Nobody's told me who will get the circuit court job for that same area, maybe because nobody knows...

In case you missed it

Posted on January 24, 2008
It says here:"A warming global ocean ? influencing the winds that shear off the tops of developing storms ? could mean fewer Atlantic hurricanes striking the United States according to new findings by NOAA climate scientists."

Rhythm and Roots 2008 - Doc Watson and Ralph Stanley

Posted on January 23, 2008
The word is out that the 2008 Rhythm and Roots Reunion in downtown Bristol will feature both Doc Watson and Ralph Stanley.

On John Cook

Posted on January 23, 2008
It says here that John Cook of the Caskie and Frost firm in Lynchburg is up for a circuit court judgeship, and he has been rated well qualified by his local bar.He can tell others that I am 100% for him or against him, whichever will do him the most good.

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Dismissal in section 1983 case upheld on grounds of lack of state action

Posted on January 23, 2008
In German v. Fox, the Fourth Circuit in a per curiam opinion for the panel of Judges Motz and Duncan and District Judge Brinkema affirmed the dismissal of a section 1983 claim related to the plaintiff's dismissal from employment with a private, non-profit organization...

I'm Spartacus! No, I'm Spartacus!

Posted on January 23, 2008
In Horace Mann Ins. Co. v. General Star Nat'l Ins. Co., the Fourth Circuit in an opinion by Judge Traxler, joined by Judges Niemeyer and District Judge Wilson of the W.D. Va., decided the competing claims of two insurers to the exalted position of the "excess" carrier, and reversed the decision of the District Court (the N...

Funky place where we ate in Williamsburg

Posted on January 23, 2008
One place where we ate in Williamsburg last weekend was the Opus 9 Steakhouse - the two of us ate for $125, so it was not Shoney's. The place is in New Town.

What I remember seeing in Nice and Monaco

Posted on January 22, 2008
There was some effort made to influence my decision regarding the purchase of some lavender in Nice, and just outside that same market, I did see some substantial crookedness - on display alongside the main road by the beach, in broad daylight. In Monte Carlo, we saw the courthouse - with "LEX" over the front door - but no judges, and it seemed a far less impressive building than the casino.

Post No. 7,000

Posted on January 22, 2008
In the category of "Now it can be told"The Chicago Tribune has this story of two public defenders who kept the secret of their client's murder confession, until his recent death.Closer to home, a Virginia lawyer who represented a co-defendant in the Daryl Atkins case came forward with information that created doubt about his client's confession and led the circuit court to change Atkins' sentence to life in prison, as described here in the New York Times and here in the Washington Post...

Interesting stuff

Posted on January 22, 2008
The New York Times has the photos of West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Maynard, hanging out with Don Blankenship in Monte Carlo, while the appeal of the $50 million verdict in favor of Harman Mining and against Blankenship's company was unresolved...

J&DR judges

Posted on January 22, 2008
The House of Delegates has named some juvenile and domestic relations district court judges, including:The Honorable Florence A. Powell, of Washington, as a judge of the Twenty-eighth Judicial District for a term of six years commencing February 1, 2008...

Any means any

Posted on January 22, 2008
Today in Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Supreme Court in an opinion by Justice Thomas concluded that the exclusion to the waiver of sovereign immunity in the Federal Tort Claims Act for "claims arising from the detention of property by 'any officer of customs or excise or any other law enforcement officer'" is not limited to "law enforcement officers enforcing customs or excise laws," but includes prison officials...

What Justice Koontz said at the VBA meeting

Posted on January 21, 2008
Justice Koontz talking about brief-writing said one thing the appellee should do is to organize its brief in the same way as the appellant's brief, no matter how inane, so that the brief readers can do a side-by-side analysis of the issues, one by one...

The transcript from Virginia v. Moore

Posted on January 21, 2008
Here is the transcript from the argument before the Supreme Court in the case of Virginia v. Moore, about which I had this post earlier.The people I talked to in Williamsburg seemed to think the argument went well for the Commonwealth, but then the ones telling me this all had a rooting interest...

Boucher picks Obama

Posted on January 21, 2008
As reported here in the Kingsport paper and here in the Richmond paper elsewhere, Southwest Virginia congressman Rick Boucher has endorsed Barack Obama.In 1998, Congressman Boucher made this statement about President Bill Clinton, which says in part: "He has diminished his personal dignity and that of the office of the presidency...

Gone to the Winter meeting in Williamsburg

Posted on January 15, 2008
Hey, maybe I'll see you there.

More on the (Floyd) Roberts nomination

Posted on January 13, 2008
On February 7, 1939, after the U.S. Senate voted to deny confirmation to Floyd Roberts of Bristol to the second seat on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, President Roosevelt wrote this letter to Roberts, which says in part:"My dear Judge Roberts:I feel that in justice to you and your family I should write to you in regard to the refusal of the Senate to confirm your appointment as United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia...

Quotes from the latest round of Virginia Supreme Court opinions

Posted on January 13, 2008
"There is good reason for the rule that appellate courts must defer to the factual findings of the trial judge in Fourth Amendment cases. The fact patterns in such cases arrive in infinite variety, seldom or never exactly duplicated. Moreover, they involve consideration of nuances such as tone of voice, facial expression, gestures and body language seldom discernable from a printed record...

On the intervention of the Commonwealth in the Episcopal Church property litigation

Posted on January 13, 2008
The Washington Post reports here ("State Files to Join Episcopal Case," by Michelle Boorstein, Saturday, January 12, 2008; Page B03), that Attorney General McDonnell has petitioned for leave of court to allow the Commonwealth to intervene in the much-publicized litigation pending in Fairfax County Circuit Court over the property rights of breakaway conservative congregations...

On moonshine in Southwest Virginia

Posted on January 13, 2008
Back on January 8, the Washington Post published this story by Jerry Markon on the continuation of the moonshine business in Franklin County and elsewhere.It says in part:"Since Prohibition, southwestern Virginia has been a hub of moonshine production, along with North Carolina and a few other Southern states...

On showing the Super Bowl on a really big screen at church

Posted on January 13, 2008
The Daily Progress has this story that says that fellow from the Rutherford Institute wants to take on the National Football League on the issue of displaying NFL games on big screens in churches.

On painkiller abuse in Southwest Virginia

Posted on January 12, 2008
Sunday's Washington Post has this lengthy report, particularly methadone. The article associates the problem with coal mining, but I wonder whether a likelier cause would be lack of coal mining employment, the level of employment in the mines is not what it was notwithstanding the rise in energy prices.

Worth reading

Posted on January 12, 2008
Williamsburg's own National Center for State Courts has this report on future trends in state courts. You'd think that with the NCSC here, Virginia's state courts would be the most advanced in the nation, or at least the most considered. I can't get over the Virginia Supreme Court's new font rule (Courier-Verdana) as a metaphor for whatever else ails Virginia's court system; whoever conceived and supported that rule doesn't read or doesn't care what the "experts" think (much less the crackpots like myself)...

Worth reading

Posted on January 10, 2008
Here is an interesting article on the oral argument before the Supreme Court in the medical practice cases involving the issue charitable immunity, quoting Steve Emmert among others who participated in the argument. The issue was described "as the most significant matter taken up by the court regarding medical malpractice since 1990, when the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the state's limit on malpractice awards...

What have these cases got in common?

Posted on January 09, 2008
An elderly ex-mayor in Northern Virginia got a suspended jail sentence for running a brothel in a strip mall, as described here in the Washington Post.A former town employee in Southwest Virginia convicted of reselling pipe bought with town money "was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay back $139,962 of town money," according to this story in the Roanoke Times.

Notables

Posted on January 08, 2008
Judge Wilkinson dissented here from the denial of rehearing en banc in the Virginia Republican primary case. He wrote: "At a minimum, courts should not use the American Constitution to weaken the centrist impulses in American politics. It should be clear that an open primary, where candidates must compete for votes beyond their party?s core adherents, is a permissible choice for a state to make...

On standards of review

Posted on January 08, 2008
In Evans v. Eaton Corp. Long Term Disability Plan, Judge Wilkinson wrote this on standards of review:"The purpose of standards of review is to focus reviewing courts upon their proper role when passing on the conduct of other decisionmakers. Standards of review are thus an elemental expression of judicial restraint, which, in their deferential varieties, safeguard the superior vantage points of those entrusted with primary decisional responsibility...

On Judge Hogan

Posted on January 08, 2008
Last month, I mentioned Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a post, and now I read here in the Post that that he is taking senior status.The story begins:"On the wall of his chambers looking out on the U...

The swallows and the crystal ball

Posted on January 08, 2008
Today, in John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. U.S., the Supreme Court by 7-2 vote held that the statute of limitations for a claim against the U.S. under 28 U. S. C. �2501 could not be waived.Distinguishing other cases where the limitations statutes for claims against the Government were held to be waivable, or subject to equitable estoppel, Justice Breyer concluded: "But these few swallows cannot make petitioner?s summer...

More on Moore v. Com., the Rule 5A:12 case

Posted on January 07, 2008
AL&P has a post about my post, and their title is Virginia sua sponte converts criminal procedure nerdery to jurisdictional oppression.

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