OPINION BY JUSTICE STEPHEN R. McCULLOUGH . The Tax Department rescinded $4.9 million in land preservation tax credits it had previously awarded to the Woolfords. The circuit court sustained that decision, reasoning that the appraiser the Woolfords hired was not a "qualified appraiser" within the intendment of Code 58.1-512(B). For the reasons noted below, we will reverse that determination and will remand for further proceedings. BACKGROUND For more than 160 years, the Woolford family...
OPINION BY JUSTICE ELIZABETH A. McCLANAHAN . Appellants, Old Dominion Committee For Fair Utility Rates ("Old Dominion"), VML/VACO APCO Steering Committee ("VML") and Karen E. Torrent ("Torrent"), challenge in these consolidated appeals of right the decision of the State Corporation Commission ("Commission") upholding the constitutionality of Code 56-585.1:1. This statute suspended the Commission's biennial base rate reviews for Appalachian Power Company (APCO) and Virginia Electric and...
OPINION BY JUSTICE STEPHEN R. McCULLOUGH . Dulles Duty Free, LLC, challenges Loudoun County's imposition of a Business, Professional, and Occupational License ("BPOL") tax on a substantial portion of its sales. It argues that the Import-Export Clause of the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Const. art. I, 10, cl. 2, bars the County from imposing the tax. The circuit court ruled in favor of the County. For the reasons noted below, we reverse the judgment of the circuit court and...
OPINION BY JUSTICE WILLIAM C. MIMS . In this appeal, we consider whether an unincorporated association is a "property owners' association" within the meaning of the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act, Code 55-508 to 55-516.2 ("the Act"). I. BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS BELOW In 1988, Sentry Realty, Inc. ("Sentry") recorded a declaration of protective covenants and restrictions ("the Declaration") for Saddle Ridge Farms ("the Subdivision"). The Subdivision comprises six...
OPINION BY CHIEF JUSTICE DONALD W. LEMONS . In this appeal, we consider whether the Circuit Court of Fauquier County ("circuit court") erred by holding that a surety who was an accommodation guarantor of a promissory note was not entitled to judgment against the maker of the note under Code 49-27 upon default by the maker and seizure of collateral by the lender. I. Facts and Proceedings On January 5, 2015, Charles R. Chamberlain ("Chamberlain") filed a complaint against Marshall Auto &...
OPINION BY JUSTICE D. ARTHUR KELSEY . This case involves only one underlying dispute: The Funny Guy, LLC contends that it was not paid for work it did for Lecego, LLC. 1 That dispute, however, generated three cascading theories of recovery against Lecego. Funny Guy first claimed that, after the dispute arose, Lecego agreed to pay almost all (about 97%) of the money that it allegedly owed as part of a settlement agreement (the settlement theory). Funny Guy filed suit on that theory and...
