OPINION BY ELIZABETH A. McCLANAHAN . Tyson Kenneth Curley appeals the decision of the Court of Appeals of Virginia rejecting his challenge to the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress and upholding his convictions for multiple drug and firearm related offenses. Curley argues that the trial court should have suppressed the evidence of his guilt because it was obtained during an unlawful search of his vehicle. We conclude that probable cause existed for the search and thus affirm his...
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 The Tax Department rescinded $4.9 million in land preservation tax credits it had previously awarded to the Woolfords.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...
OPINION BY SENIOR JUSTICE ELIZABETH B. LACY . Marvin Hines was indicted for first degree murder of Wayne Hudson in violation of Code 18.2-32 and use of a firearm in the commission of first degree murder in violation of Code 18.2-53.1. Hines claimed he shot Hudson in self-defense. Following a bench trial, the trial court found Hines guilty of voluntary manslaughter. After granting the Commonwealth's motion to amend the indictment, the trial court also found Hines guilty of a violation...
OPINION BY CHIEF JUSTICE DONALD W. LEMONS . This appeal arises from a civil contempt order entered after the Division of Legislative Services ("DLS") and several Members of the General Assembly, invoking legislative privilege, refused to comply with a production order in a matter pending before the circuit court. The court held that legislative privilege, as set forth in the Speech or Debate Clause of Article IV, Section 9 of the Constitution of Virginia ("the Clause"), 1 does not extend...
OPINION BY JUSTICE ELIZABETH A. McCLANAHAN . These consolidated appeals of right by the Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County ("Board") and David I. Ramadan (collectively, "Appellants") arise from a Code 56-542(D) investigation by the State Corporation Commission ("Commission") of the tolls charged by Toll Road Investors Partnership II, L.P. ("TRIP II") for the Dulles Greenway ("Greenway"), a privately owned toll road located primarily in Loudoun County. Following the investigation,...
OPINION BY JUSTICE WILLIAM C. MIMS . In this appeal, we consider whether the definition of "open or common space" in Code 58.1-3284.1(A) excludes real property used for a commercial enterprise. I. BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS BELOW Christina Gray obtained a conditional use permit for a cluster development on a parcel of real property situated in the City of Suffolk. The development proposal included an equestrian center. Gray thereafter conveyed the parcel to Kings Fork, LLC ("...
Opinion by Justice ELIZABETH A. McCLANAHAN . Nella Kate Martin Dye filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a determination that the term "minerals" used in two severance deeds executed in 1886 and 1887 did not effect a conveyance of the natural gas and coal bed methane (collectively "gas") underlying her land. Relying upon Warren v. Clinchfield Coal Corp., 166 Va. 524, 186 S.E. 20 (1936), the circuit court held that the term "minerals" included the gas as a matter of law and...
Opinion by Chief Justice DONALD W. LEMONS . In this appeal, we consider whether the trial court erred when it awarded $1200 in sanctions against plaintiff's counsel for counsel's failure to voluntarily extend the time in which a defendant might file its answer. I. Facts and Proceedings Environment Specialist, Inc., t/a Howell's Heating & Air Conditioning Co. ("ESI") filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Stafford County ("trial court") against Stafford Office One, LLC, Stafford...
Opinion by Justice D. ARTHUR KELSEY . The circuit court in this case granted a special plea in bar dismissing, on statute of limitations grounds, a declaratory judgment action filed by Steven F. Tvardek and Marta P. Tvardek against their homeowners' association. Because the court erred in doing so, we reverse the dismissal order and the circuit court's ancillary award of attorney fees to the defendant. I. In 2013, the Tvardeks filed a declaratory judgment complaint against their...
Opinion by Justice D. ARTHUR KELSEY . Eldesa C. Smith appeals a dismissal by the circuit court of her habeas corpus petition. The court dismissed the petition on the pleadings without receiving evidence ore tenus or by affidavit. We reverse the dismissal order, remand the case for the presentation of evidence, and direct the circuit court to reconsider the petition after making findings on disputed allegations of material facts. I. In 2011, pursuant to a plea agreement, Smith pleaded...
Opinion by Justice JANE MARUM ROUSH . In this appeal, we consider whether the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment to the plaintiff in an action for breach of contract, in sustaining the plaintiff's demurrer to the defendants' counterclaim alleging breach of contract, and in dismissing the defendants' affirmative defense of recoupment. I. Facts and Proceedings The appellants in this case are Virginia Fuel Corporation ("Virginia Fuel") and James C. Justice Companies, Inc. ("...
Opinion by Justice WILLIAM C. MIMS . In this appeal, we consider whether Code 22.1-296.1 prohibits a school board from hiring an applicant for employment who has been previously convicted of a felony. I. BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS BELOW In 1992, Deilia Butler was convicted of a felony drug offense. In 2000, she was licensed to teach by the Virginia Board of Education. In July 2006, she applied to the Fairfax County School Board ("the Board") for a teaching position. She...
Opinion by Justice WILLIAM C. MIMS . In this appeal, we consider whether a lawful permanent resident of the United States received ineffective assistance of counsel when advised about a plea agreement pertaining to a charge of grand larceny, a crime involving moral turpitude rendering her deportable under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(i). I. BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS BELOW Betty Bustillo Fuentes, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was indicted on a single count of...
Opinion by Justice WILLIAM C. MIMS . In this appeal, we consider whether Code 38.2-209(A) requires a trial judge, rather than a jury, to determine whether an insurer committed a bad faith breach of an insurance contract warranting an award of attorney's fees to the insured. I. BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS In 2000, REVI, LLC ("REVI") purchased a five-acre parcel of residential property along the Potomac River in Fairfax County (the "Property"). At that time, REVI also purchased...
Opinion by Justice CLEO E. POWELL . Paul Lee ("Lee") and Strategic Health Care Company, Inc. ("SHC") appeal the judgment of the trial court awarding Lisa Spoden ("Spoden") $138,880.50. Specifically, Lee and SHC argue that Spoden's claims were barred by the doctrine of res judicata, that the trial court erred in excluding evidence of a prior ruling related to the real property at issue in this case and that the verdict should have been set aside on the grounds that it exceeded the amount...
