Feed: Virginia Local Government Law - AggScore: 50.0

Virginia Supreme Court Opinions Affecting Local Government Law: April 20, 2012

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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 [...]

Oral Argument at Virginia Supreme Court

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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 [...]

“Influential Women of Virginia” Include Virginia Local Government Attorneys

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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 [...]

Virginia Supreme Court Opinion Affecting Local Government Law: March 2, 2012

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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 [...]

Commercial General Liability Insurance Covers FLSA Claims: Republic Franklin Insurance Company v. Albemarle County School Board

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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. [...]

Rules of (Creating) the (Public) Road: Dykes v. Friends of the C.C.C. Road

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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 Virginia Freedom of Information Act and its State Citizenship Requirement Upheld: McBurney v. Young

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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” [...]

Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Eminent Domain: Cons and Pros

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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 [...]

Was that approval by the planning commission legislative or administrative? Sinclair v. New Cingular Wireless PCS

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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 [...]

State Water Control Law and Virginia Waste Management Act, Two Statutory Schemes with $9 Million in the Balance: Campbell County v. Royal

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In the trial court, Campbell County lost, and lost big.  The judgment appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court included dollarsignr 9 million in damages, plus another dollarsignr600,000 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 [...]

Virginia Supreme Court Opinions Affecting Local Government Law: January 13, 2012

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Today, the Virginia Supreme Court issued a number of opinions affecting the practice of Virginia local government law.  These summaries are from the Virginia Supreme Court website.  Click on the case numbers beside the case names to read the opinions.    101168 Campbell County v. Royal 01/13/2012 In an action by landowners for damages resulting [...]

2010-2011 Annual Survey of Local Government Law: University of Richmond Law Review

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As promised (see VaLocalityLaw April 12, 2011 post, “University of Richmond Law Review, the Sequel”), Virginia local government law finally made it as a practice area into the University of Richmond Law Review Annual Survey of Virginia Law Edition, Vol. 46, No. 1 (November 2011).  Until the website changes, the “current issue” link shows a [...]

Gov. McDonnell: No Devolution Without Money to Pay for It

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As an update to the December 13, 2011 blog post on VaLocalityLaw, “Devolution:  Will Virginia Pass its “Neglected,” “Crumbling” Highway System on to Local Governments?” Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has stated his position. In an article appearing on a Washington Post blog post, “McDonnell does not support shifting transportation costs to localities,” Governor McDonnell stated that devolution [...]

Devolution: Will Virginia Pass its “Neglected,” “Crumbling” Highway System on to Local Governments?

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As discussed on this blog previously, there is a movement afoot in the Virginia General Assembly to transfer the responsibility and costs of the secondary road system in Virginia to your local county, city or town.  See our previous post — VDOT Study: Will State Roads Become Local Again?  (To be clear, secondary roads are more [...]

10 Lessons from the Verizon Cases at the State Corporation Commission

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In December of 2009, Verizon Communication, Inc.’s two “baby bell” subsidiaries in Virginia (Verizon Virginia, Inc. and Verizon South, Inc. — collectively, “Verizon”) filed applications to correct erroneous assessments of almost all of its personal property in the Commonwealth for tax year 2009, and seeking significant refunds.  Verizon ultimately added a claim for tax year 2010 [...]