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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

One for the Chamber of Commerce

Posted on February 25, 2008
Over the weekend, the Bristol did a front page story on the continued use of outhouses in Southwest Virginia.I remember the outhouses that were on the farms where my dad grew up and where my mom grew up. The latter was referred to as Grandpa Conrad's "office...

Matthews, you jerk

Posted on February 20, 2008
Last night, Chris Matthews slipped a cog and blistered some mild-mannered Texan standing in for the Obama campaign about what legislation has Obama gotten passed, ever in his life.One answer is that Obama, having been a legislator for several years longer than has Ms...

On counting to 2

Posted on February 19, 2008
In U.S. v. Gardner, where the federal statute required 2 felony drug convictions for a life sentence, Chief Judge Jones counted only one, concluding among other things that the defendant's fake dope conviction did not count.

Don Shula's first coaching gig - 50 years ago in Charlottesville

Posted on February 19, 2008
Doug Doughty has this fun piece about the 50th anniversary of the employment of Don Shula as an assistant football coach at the University of Virginia in 1958, ten years before he went to the Super Bowl as coach of the Colts and fifteen years before his Miami team finished its undefeated season, about which team I have written here and elsewhere.

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Should Virginia lawyers be subject to random audits of trust accounts?

Posted on February 18, 2008
This article in the Norfolk paper says that this year's VSB President Howard W. Martin, Jr., favors random audits of lawyer trust accounts in Virginia, as has been done in North Carolina for 23 years.I'm in favor, on two conditions: (1) no dues increase, and (2) no discrimination against solos and very small firm lawyers (meaning firms smaller even than ours).

Lack of due diligence?

Posted on February 18, 2008
It has been reported here and elsewhere that Judge Kelley of the E.D. Va. is going to resign because: (1) federal judges spend much of their time dealing with icky criminal cases, and (2) partners in D.C. law firms get more money. These obscure facts must have come as shocking revelations, whenever he discovered them during his brief tenure on the bench...

More on the Exam Dream

Posted on February 18, 2008
Previously, I've written about The Exam Dream, my own personal version of which most commonly involves Lynda Butler, who at different points in her life taught first calculus and later the Rule Against Perpetuities, and such other and further details as Old Cabell Hall and no bluebook...

A few I missed

Posted on February 17, 2008
Overlawyered had this post on the Virginia law of sangria, now subject to an amendment as part of a broader fix of the ABC laws (and which our own Del. Johnson voted against) and this post about a lawsuit against a golf course in Virginia Beach, brought by a passing driver struck by an errant shot - plus a link to this Novak story that says Obama will pick Edwards as AG...

Pleaded v. pled

Posted on February 17, 2008
Last month, David Lat had this post, on the topic of which is the more correct usage, pleaded vs. pled, as the past tense of the verb, "to plead."On the state court side, Westlaw gives the impression that Chief Justice Hassell, Justice Kinser, Justice Lemons, Chief Judge Felton, Judge Kelsey, Judge Humphreys, Judge McClanahan, and Senior Judge Coleman prefer "pled," but Judge Elder has more frequently used "pleaded," as did former Chief Justice Carrico...

Late notice

Posted on February 16, 2008
Nobody told me that the dog from Bill Bradshaw's law office passed away one year ago. I've never been there when she wasn't.I have a story about that dog, but I can't tell it, except to say that she earned her keep.

Everything wrong with Bill Clinton in one interview

Posted on February 14, 2008
Here he says all these things:Bill Clinton dismisses the outcome of the voting in the caucus states, because the caucus participants are "disproportionately favor upper-income voters who, who, don't really need a president but feel like they need a change...

Reading just now

Posted on February 14, 2008
I just finished reading Obama: From Promise to Power, by David Mendell, the reporter (and blogger), and started That Man: An Insider's Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, by Justice Robert H. Jackson and edited by John Barrett, the fellow who puts out the Jackson e-mail list...

Up for argument later this month

Posted on February 13, 2008
One case is LEVISA COAL COMPANY v. CONSOLIDATION COAL COMPANY, out of Buchanan County, where the assignments of error are these: 1. The trial court?s ruling contradicts the holding in Clayborn v. Camilla Red Ash Coal Co., and other cases, which provides that a coal owner like Levisa owns the coal and appurtenant rights necessary to access and mine its coal, but not unrelated rights such as the right to store mine water from another?s mine...

Frequent filer gets sanctioned by Judge Moon

Posted on February 13, 2008
In Thurston v. Melton, Judge Moon of the W.D. Va. ordered Rule 11 sanctions against a pro se litigant, noting that the same plaintiff had previously filed 25 lawsuits, including 12 raising the same claims as in this case. The Court imposed sanctions of $500 and entered a pre-filing injunction against the plaintiff with respect to future cases.

Another methadone clinic zoning case

Posted on February 13, 2008
In A Helping Hand, LLC, v. Baltimore County, the Fourth Circuit in an opinion by Judge Motz, joined by Judge Duncan and District Judge Brinkema, held that a methadone treatment clinic that was the target of a zoning ordinance to bump it out of its present location could have a claim under the ADA, but was not entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and the judgment in its favor on its substantive due process claim would be affirmed...

Good riddance

Posted on February 12, 2008
Gene Nichol got the jump on the non-renewal of his employment and quit as president of the College of William & Mary, issuing this statement.His self-righteous statement makes the case against himself - his regime will be remembered for the arrogance, intolerance, and petulance...

Ford's effective limitation on consequential damages means no federal jurisdiction for truck claim under $50,000

Posted on February 11, 2008
In Burtt v. Ford Motor Company, Senior Judge Kiser of the W.D. Va. granted the defendant's motion to dismiss, concluding that the plaintiff's claimed consequential damages were not recoverable and could not be counted towards the jurisdictional amount for a claim under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

Wow, that's lame

Posted on February 08, 2008
The Post fingers the Republicans for a show-down over the appointments of Justice Goodwyn and Judge Millette, both of whom were given interim appointments by Governor Kaine.There's a quote in there where a Republican legislator says this: "We believe that we should have people that are philosophically associated with us who are judges...

On Judge McGrath

Posted on February 08, 2008
Rocktown Weekly has this profile of retiring Circuit Court Judge John McGrath, from the circuit that includes Harrisonburg and Luray.

On the latest bar-passage rate proposal before the ABA

Posted on February 08, 2008
Here it is, and here is a story from ABA Journal.The standard is this:"A law school?s bar passage rate shall be sufficient, for purposes of Standard 301(a), if the school demonstrates that it meets any one of the following tests:1) That for students who graduated from the law school within the five most recently completed calendar years:(a) 75 percent or more of these graduates who sat for the bar passed a bar examination, or (b) in at least three of these calendar years, 75 percent of the students graduating in those years and sitting for the bar have passed a bar examination...

On next week's to-do list

Posted on February 08, 2008
Put me down as joining up with U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher; Lisa Collis, wife of former Gov. Mark Warner; Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim; Gov. Timothy M. Kaine; State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth; U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott; and former Gov. Douglas Wilder, according to this list...

On the retirement of a Roanoke district court judge

Posted on February 08, 2008
The Roanoke paper has this fine account of Judge Julian Raney, which says in part:"Raney's slender frame, bookish features and reserved manner belie a man who was mentioned in Sports Illustrated as the leading scorer in the Eastern Rugby Union while he played for the University of Virginia, and who overcame a fear of heights to train as a paratrooper before his tour of duty in Vietnam ? which he volunteered for despite misgivings about the war...

Electronic filing coming to the Fourth Circuit

Posted on February 08, 2008
In the e-mail bin is this notice of proposed administrative order and this notice of proposed rule amendments, relating to electronic filing in the Fourth Circuit.

Twice as nice

Posted on February 05, 2008
Chief Judge Jones of the W.D. Va. issued opinions in two of my cases yesterday, this case and this one.All was not lost, in either.

Worth reading

Posted on February 05, 2008
Just lately I've read My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir by Clarence Thomas, and West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War, by Heather Cox Richardson.I enjoyed the account of the many struggles and occasional joys of Justice Thomas's life, and I liked the history in the Richardson book, not so much the sociology...

Lawyers commenting on Judge Farmer

Posted on February 05, 2008
The Bristol paper had an article by the usually reliable Kathy Still on Monday, evidently not available online (but who knows? you can't find anything on that lousy website), quoting Southwest Virginia lawyers Jay Steele and Hugh O'Donnell on the merits of Judge John Farmer's performance as juvenile and domestic relations judge...

On Judge Tower

Posted on February 05, 2008
Via VLW, the Norfolk paper says here that Judge Winship Tower is one of the candidates for a Circuit Court judgeship in Virginia Beach.Add her to the list of those I'm for or against her, whichever way helps. (Hey, it worked for Chad Dotson.)The other contenders sound like a strong bunch...

The Nashville sound - argh

Posted on February 01, 2008
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth earlier this week, as the bad weather in Memphis delayed the "overnight" delivery of the documents I needed, so that they arrived in Bristol about 90 minutes before I needed to account for them to a federal judge...

Tales from the Book Snake

Posted on January 28, 2008
As referenced here previously, my wife's Uncle David wrote a book about his life in book collecting, called Memoirs of a Book Snake: Forty Years of Seeking and Saving Old Books. The term "book snake" was a malapropism from the wife of one of his book and magic friends, who was attempting the term "book worm...

The late Judge Dalton

Posted on January 28, 2008
There is now a tolerable Wikipedia page for Ted Dalton, besides 14 other past judges of the Western District of Virginia.

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