The Virginia Supreme Court handed down two significant cases on local government law on September 16, 2010. One was a proffered zoning case. Arogas v. Frederick County BZA deals with a proffer amendment made by the Board of Supervisors at the meeting but after the public hearing, and agreed to in writing by the landowner [...]

In our September 10 post, we discussed Augusta County’s success in seeking sanctions against a pro se attorney for improper assessment challenge. This post will discuss how Louisa County, with help from Sands Anderson PC‘s Mike Charnoff, successfully obtained sanctions against an environmental group’s lawyer and some of his clients, and reference other successes that [...]

The Virginia Supreme Court released two opinions directly impacting local government law today. Discussion of the two cases will follow in subsequent posts. Here is the Virginia Supreme Court’s summary of the case opinions: 091502 Arogas, Inc. v. Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals 09/16/2010 In a certiorari and declaratory judgment challenge to an action [...]

Localities infrequently seek sanctions. Why is this? In this author’s opinion, courts have traditionally been reluctant to grant motions for sanctions.