Today, the Virginia Supreme Court issued several opinions affecting the practice of Virginia local government law.  The cases involve (1) the Gloucester County School Board and the Public Procurement Act, (2) Albemarle County and sovereign immunity, (3) a Spotsylvania County assistant high school superintendent and a claim of negligent and gross negligent failure to prevent [...]

On March 2, 2012, I was pleased to give oral argument to the Virginia Supreme Court on behalf of a local government client. As is typical, I found the Justices to be polite, attentive, intelligent and inquisitive.  Not surprisingly, the justices asked good questions which went to the heart of the issues to be decided.  I [...]

Virginia Lawyers Media, publishers of Virginia Lawyers Weekly and the Virginia Medical Law Report, has announced the Class of 2012 of “Influential Women of Virginia.”  According to the website, “this awards program, now in its fourth year, recognizes the outstanding efforts of women in the commonwealth in all fields, including law, business, health care, education [...]

Today, the Virginia Supreme Court issued one opinion affecting the practice of Virginia local government law.  The following summary comes from the Virginia Supreme Court website: 102409 City of Richmond v. SunTrust Bank 03/02/2012 The question presented by this appeal is whether a municipal corporation has the authority to tax a non-exempt entity for the [...]

Who pays for the defense of FLSA claims against a local government entity, and who pays for the liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees if the local government entity loses?  The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion recently which  answered these questions:  Republic Franklin Insurance Company v. Albemarle County School Board, No. 10-1961 (4th Cir. [...]

The state and local governments are often in the business of creating, accepting or maintaining public roads.  In some cases, there are rights of way that are used by the general public but never become truly public roads because of a lack of either landowner intent to dedicate, or an express governmental acceptance. That was the [...]

The idea of state sovereignty is not dead.  Rather, after the McBurney v. Young case, it appears that lawful distinctions between states and their respective citizens in our grand Republic — or at least in the Fourth Circuit — are alive and well. You can find the opinion here. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) grants “citizens of the Commonwealth” [...]

The proposed eminent domain constitutional amendment is pending at the 2012 Virginia General Assembly.  See 2012′s bills on the amendment, HJ 3 and SJ 3.  If these bills pass the proposed amendment in the same form as last year, the amendment will be on the ballot in Fall 2012 for voter approval.   This blog, which until now has been silent [...]

The Virginia Supreme Court’s opinion in Sinclair v. New Cingular Wireless PCS, Record No. 101831 (January 13, 2012) narrowly read the authority of planning commissions to make certain approvals delegated by zoning ordinance, spurred the dissent of two justices and surprised a lot of local government attorneys. The case arose out of development proposed on a [...]

In the trial court, Campbell County lost, and lost big.  The judgment appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court included $ 9 million in damages, plus another $600,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.  On appeal, the County won just as big.  Campbell County v. Royal, No. 101168 (January 13, 2012). On its face, the law applied by the trial [...]