Justia Virginia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In this complaint brought over the actions of City of Charlottesville regarding Lee Park, the Supreme Court reversed and vacated the judgment, orders, and all forms of relief granted by the circuit court to Plaintiffs, holding that the circuit court erred in concluding that the City's actions were prohibited by Va. Code 15.2-1812.In 2017, the City council approved resolutions to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee (Lee Statute) in Lee Park, to rename and redesign Lee Park, and to support the renaming, redesign, and transformation of Jackson Park. The City subsequently approved a resolution to remove a statue of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson in Jackson park. Plaintiffs filed a complaint alleging that the City's actions violated section 15.2-1812. The circuit court subsequently entered several orders and ultimately enjoined the City from removing the statues and awarded Plaintiffs attorneys' fees. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that section 15.2-1812 did not apply to the statues. View "City of Charlottesville v. Payne" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the circuit court concluding that the cluster development plans submitted by two developers were not subject to planning commission review under Va. Code 15.2-2232, holding that the circuit court erred.Two real estate developers proposed to build conventional subdivisions and then reconfigured their previously approved subdivisions into cluster developments. The county planning department advised the developers that they would need to undergo another comprehensive plan compliance review in accordance with section 15.2-2232 because their new plans significantly deviated from the previously approved plans. The developers sought writs of mandamus requiring the county to approve the plans and writs of prohibition preventing the county from ordering a comprehensive plan review. The circuit court ruled in favor of the developers and entered an order directing the county to approver the cluster development concept plans. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the approvals of prior subdivision plans did not foreclose the requirement of a section 15.2-2232 review by the planning commission of different plans later submitted. View "Stafford County v. D.R. Horton, Inc." on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the circuit court sustaining Defendant's plea in bar and dismissing Plaintiffs' action, holding that Plaintiffs had standing and were not collaterally estopped from pursuing the claims asserted in their complaint.Defendant, the matriarch of the Plofchan family, created a trust and named two of her children, Plaintiffs, as co-trustees. Defendant then petitioned the Supreme Court to appoint her daughter as her property guardian. The guardianship court denied relief, finding Defendant was not an incapacitated person. Plaintiffs then filed a complaint against Defendant seeking injunctive relief to prohibit Defendant from dissipating trust assets and interfering with the trust's administration. The circuit court sustained Defendant's plea in bar and dismissed the complaint. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the court abused its discretion in sustaining the plea in bar for collateral estoppel and lack of standing, and the errors were not harmless. View "Plofchan v. Plofchan" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the circuit court dismissing Plaintiffs' three separate complaints against the County of Northampton (the County) and the Town of Cape Charles (the Town) with prejudice, holding that the circuit court abused its discretion in excluding one of Plaintiffs' witnesses as an expert.In their complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that their real property had been overvalued in recent tax assessments. The County and Town each filed a motion in limine and motion to dismiss arguing that Plaintiffs' two experts should be excluded because Plaintiffs had not complied with the court's uniform pretrial scheduling order. The court granted the motion to exclude both witnesses as experts and dismissed the case with prejudice. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding one of Plaintiffs' intended expert witnesses from testifying at trial. View "Galloway v. County of Northampton" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the circuit court convicting Defendant of raping and taking indecent liberties with a minor, holding that any error in the circuit court's ruling excluding certain testimony was harmless.On appeal, Defendant argued that the circuit court erred by excluding the testimony of the complaining witness's aunt to impeach the complaining witness's credibility. The court of appeals ruled that the statement was not admissible impeachment evidence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that, assuming without deciding that the court of appeals erred by ruling that the proffered testimony was inadmissible, any such error was harmless. View "Haas v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court dismissing this wrongful death action, holding that the Recreational Land Use Act, Va. Code 29.1-509, did not provide Defendants with immunity under the circumstances of this case.Shawn Nicely was visiting his grandparents, Richard and Anna Funkhouser, when Gina Shoemaker was visiting her mother, Dorothy Nesselrodt, a neighbor of the Funkhousers. According to the complaint, the Funkhousers gave Nicely permission to shoot targets on their property in the direction of Nesselrodt's home. One of the bullets did penetrate the walls of Nesselrodt's house, striking and killing Shoemaker. The circuit court dismissed this case brought by the administrator and personal representative of Shoemaker, concluding that the Funkhousers did not owe Nesselrodt or her visitors a duty and that the immunity afforded to landowners under the Act foreclosed this suit. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) landowners have a limited duty in tort to prevent activity on their property that could harm other persons not on the property; and (2) the Act did not immunize the Funkhousers. View "Shoemaker v. Funkhouser" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming Defendant's convictions for animate object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery, and custodial sexual abuse, holding that that the court of appeals did not err in affirming the trial court's judgment.Specifically, the Supreme Court held (1) Defendant was not prejudiced by the introduction of the titles of child pornography downloads found on the desktop computer in Defendant's bedroom; and (2) the trial court did not err in denying Defendant's motion to poll the jury filed before the jury had begun its sentencing phase deliberations due to the nature of the bifurcated procedure in criminal trials. View "Kenner v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the determination of the trial court that James Charles St. John must pay attorney fees to the person he defrauded, holding that the circuit court did not err.St. John befriended his neighbor, Ernest Stuart Elsea, II. St. John subsequently persuaded Elsea to transfer his extensive firearm collection to a firearm trust that St. John established and controlled and had Elsea sign a durable power of attorney. St. John then induced Elsea to sign a codicil to his will naming St. John and St. John's partner as beneficiaries. Elsea filed a complaint seeking an accounting and a recovery of the firearms, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, and alleging fraud an undue influence. The circuit court rejected counts one and two but ordered St. John to either return the firearms to Elsea or pay Elsea the value of the firearms. The circuit court then ordered St. John to pay attorney's fees. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court properly awarded fees under Prospect Development Co. v. Bershader, 258 Va. 75 (1999). View "St. John v. Thompson" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court ordering Defendant to be civilly committed as a sexually violent predator for purposes of Virginia's Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA), Va. Code 37.2-900 through -921, holding that any error by the circuit court in construing Va. Code 37.2-906 was harmless.At his commitment hearing, Defendant sought to introduce as substantive evidence the results of two prior mental health evaluations by a previous Commonwealth expert. The circuit court concluded that section 37.2-906 foreclosed the introduction of this evidence due to Defendant's failure to cooperate with the required evaluation in the present proceedings. Defendant appealed, arguing (1) section 37.2-906 applies to probable cause hearings rather than civil commitment hearings; and (2) any error by the trial court in construing the statutes was harmless. View "Ferrara v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court refusing to enforce arbitration agreements between NC Financial Solutions of Utah, LLC (NCFS-Utah) and the individual consumers who were affected by alleged violations of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA), Va. Code 59.1-196-59.1-207, holding that the circuit court did not err.The Attorney General, acting on behalf of the Commonwealth, filed this action against NCFS-Utah to enforce the provisions of the VCPA. The complaint requested injunctive relief, civil penalties, and awards of attorney's fees, costs, and reasonable expenses. NCFS-Utah filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the individual Virginia consumers had agreed to arbitrate any disputes arising from the loans at issue. The circuit court denied the motion, concluding that the Commonwealth was not bound by the arbitration agreements between NCFS-Utah and the Virginia consumers. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that sections 59.1-203 and 59.1-205, read together, implicitly authorize the Attorney General to request a restitution award when pursuing a VCPA enforcement action on behalf of the Commonwealth. View "NC Financial Solutions of Utah, LLC v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law