Miscellaneous

Appeal-on-Appeal Action

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Today the Supreme Court of Virginia explained a doctrine called "the law of the case:"

It is this:

"[when] there have been two appeals in the same case, between the same parties, and the facts are the same, nothing decided on the first appeal can be re-examined on a second appeal. Right or wrong, it is binding on both the trial court and the appellate court, and is not subject to re-examination by either. For the purpose of that case, though only for that case, the decision on the first appeal is the law." Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins, No. 070933 (June 6, 2008), citing Steinman v. Clinchfield Coal Corp., 121 Va. 611, 620, 93 S.E. 684, 687 (1917), and others.

In other words: go away already!

The case is Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins, No. 070933 (June 6, 2008), aka the Vermont-Virginia lesbian custody case. (Oh, you thought it would be more interesting reading than that passage?)

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).