Justia Virginia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2012, Dominion Virginia Power filed an application with the State Corporation Commission seeking approval of a power station and transmission interconnection facilities associated with the generation plant. Dominion’s application also sought approval of a rate adjustment clause (RAC) to recover the costs of the power station and the associated transmission infrastructure. As part of the RAC, Dominion sought an enhancement on its general rate of return on common equity (ROE) for a certain period and proposed applying the enhanced ROE to the costs of the power station and associated transmission infrastructure. The Commission approved the power station and associated transmission infrastructure and allowed Dominion to recover an enhanced ROE for the transmission infrastructure. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the Commission properly interpreted Va. Code 56-585.1(A)(6) to allow Dominion to recover an enhanced ROE for the transmission infrastructure associated with the power station and included in the subsection (A)(6) RAC for that facility. View "Attorney Gen. v. State Corp. Comm'n" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of several crimes associated with the robbery of a victim and the invasion of his home. Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in refusing his proffered jury instruction, which should be given if a witness whose testimony is at issue is an accomplice and if his or her testimony is uncorroborated. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s refusal of the proposed jury instruction, concluding that the testimony at issue had been corroborated. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the witness here was an accomplice and his testimony was not corroborated, and therefore, the trial court abused its discretion in refusing Defendant’s proffered jury instruction. Remanded. View "Via v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

Decedent was fatally injured when a train struck the dump truck Decedent was operating. RGR, LLC operated a business offloading and reloading lumber adjacent to the railroad tracks. Decedent’s Estate filed a wrongful death action against RGR and others, alleging that Defendants created a hazardous condition by stacking lumber near the railroad tracks, which blocked the view of Decedent so that he could not see the approaching train in time to avoid the collision. The jury returned a verdict for the Estate in the amount of $2.5 million. The Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s judgment and entered final judgment for RGR, holding that the evidence established that Decedent was contributorily negligent as a matter of law because he did not look to see if a train was approaching, and his failure to do so was a proximate cause of the accident. View "RGR, LLC v. Settle" on Justia Law

Defendant was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of object sexual penetration for events alleged to have taken place during sleepovers at his home. Defendant appealed, arguing that the circuit court abused its discretion in refusing to permit him to elicit evidence of his good character through two witnesses. The Court of Appeals denied Defendant’s petition for appeal. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and vacated the convictions, holding that the circuit court erred by sustaining the Commonwealth’s objection to Defendant’s question seeking admissible character evidence, and the error was not harmless. Remanded. View "Gardner v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

The Administrators of the estates of two individuals killed in a single-engine airplane crash filed wrongful death actions against Honeywell International, Inc., the manufacturer of the plane’s autopilot system, alleging that Honeywell breached of the warranty of merchantability. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Honeywell. The Administrators appealed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the circuit court erroneously admitted hearsay statements in testimony regarding an accident investigation report prepared by the Mooney Airplane Company describing its investigation of the crash, and their admission was not harmless error; and (2) the circuit court abused its discretion in admitting certain opinion testimony and in allowing Honeywell’s counsel to make certain statements during closing argument. View "Harman v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc." on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of attempted first degree murder of his wife, abduction of his father and his three children, and use of a firearm while attempting to murder his wife. The charges stemmed from an incident in which Defendant verbally threatened his wife’s life while brandishing two weapons when his children and father were present. The Court of Appeals affirmed the attempted murder and firearm convictions but reversed the abduction convictions for insufficient evidence. The Supreme Court (1) reversed the portion of the court of appeals’ judgment reversing Defendant’s convictions for abduction of his father and children, as the evidence was sufficient to prove detention by intimidation and intent to deprive the victims of their personal liberty; and (2) affirmed the portion of the court of appeals’ judgment upholding Defendant’s convictions for attempted first degree murder and use of a firearm during the commission of an attempted felony. View "Commonwealth v. Herring" on Justia Law

After Tonia Begley died, Robert Bartee and Wiley Begley qualified as co-administrators of Begley’s estate. Wiley Begley subsequently died. Thereafter, Bartee filed a wrongful death lawsuit against an emergency department physician. The trial court dismissed the action, concluding that Bartee lacked standing to sue alone. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Bartee had standing to file the action under the doctrine of survivorship because the power of appointment given to Bartee and Wiley Begley as co-administrators of the estate to prosecute a wrongful death action could be exercised by Bartee as the sole remaining survivor. Remanded. View "Bartee v. Vitocruz" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs were former employees by Verizon Virginia, Inc. Plaintiffs sued Verizon and the Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO District 2 after Plaintiffs accepted an “Enhanced Income Security Plan” based on the assurances that they would not be terminated but were nonetheless terminated. Defendants filed notices of removal to the federal district court, arguing that Plaintiffs’ state-law claims were completely preempted by section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA). The district court concluded that Plaintiffs’ state-law claims were not completely preempted and there was no federal jurisdiction. On remand, the circuit court agreed with Defendants on the complete preemption issue and dismissed the case. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the circuit court erred by dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims for lack of jurisdiction, even if they were completely preempted; and (2) Plaintiffs’ claims were not completely preempted. View "Anthony v. Verizon Va., Inc." on Justia Law

In 1940, property owners (Yanceys) and the predecessor to Norfolk Southern Railway Company (together, Norfolk) entered into an agreement (Agreement) whereby Norfolk agreed to construct and maintain a private grade grossing over its railroad tracks. In 1996, E.A. Breeden, Inc. acquired part of the Yancey estate and leased a house upon this track to Todd Ditton and his wife. Ditton was injured when his vehicle was struck by a Norfolk train at the crossing. Ditton filed an action against Norfolk, and the parties settled. In 2006, Norfolk filed an action against Breeden seeking to recover the settlement amount based on an indemnity clause in the Agreement. The circuit court ruled that Norfolk was not entitled to indemnification or contribution from Breeden because Ditton was a successor in interest under the terms of the Agreement and his use of the crossing was independent of Breeden. Subsequently, Norfolk removed the private crossing, and Breeden sought a permanent injunction requiring Norfolk to replace and maintain the crossing. The circuit court granted the request for injunctive relief. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in concluding there was no material breach by Breeden and in granting the injunction. View "Norfolk S. Ry. v. E.A. Breeden, Inc." on Justia Law

PS Business Parks, LP obtained a judgment against Deutsch & Gilden, Inc. for its failure to pay a lease. PS Business, naming Deutsch as debtor, filed a garnishment summons naming SunTrust Bank as garnishee. SunTrust filed two checks with the circuit court. The first check was drawn from an account titled to Deutsch, and the second check was drawn from an account titled to G&D Furniture Holdings, Inc. G&D Filed a motion to quash the garnishment of its account because it was not a party to the underlying action. The account was a master account participating in a “treasury management service” which, in a “zero balance account arrangement,” drew money each day from Deutsch’s account into the master account and moved funds from that master account to Deutsch’s account on an as-needed basis. The circuit court granted G&D’s motion to quash and ordered payment from the Deutsch account. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed the circuit court’s decision to quash garnishment of the G&D master account; and (2) held that the circuit court erred by not considering evidence of funds in Deutsch’s account during the period of time between service on SunTrust of the garnishment summons and its return date. View "PS Bus. Parks, L.P. v. Deutsch & Gilden, Inc." on Justia Law