Opinion by Senior Justice ELIZABETH B. LACY. In this appeal, we consider whether the State Corporation Commission properly construed and applied Code 56-585.1(A)(5)(e) to deny rate adjustment clause recovery for certain costs incurred by Appalachian Power Company ("APCO" or "the Company"). Background Prior to 1999, the State Corporation Commission ("the Commission") determined the rates electric utility companies charged consumers pursuant to Chapter 10, Article 2 of Title 56, Code 56-...
Opinion by Justice S. BERNARD GOODWYN. Pursuant to Article VI, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia and Rule 5:40, we accepted the following certified question of law from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit: For purposes of interpreting an "all risk" homeowners insurance policy, is any damage resulting from this drywall unambiguously excluded from coverage under the policy because it is loss caused by: (a) "mechanical breakdown, latent defect, inherent vice, or...
Opinion by Justice CLEO E. POWELL. In this appeal, we consider whether a condemnor may, in an eminent domain proceeding, alternatively assert ownership rights in the condemned property. We further consider whether the evidence in this case was sufficient to support the circuit court's ruling that the City of Virginia Beach (the "City") proved an implied dedication of the disputed property. I. Background The present case concerns the beach along the Chesapeake Bay from First Landing State...
Opinion by Senior Justice LAWRENCE L. KOONTZ, JR. In these appeals we consider whether Article I, Section 11 of the Constitution of Virginia provides for a cause of action by a landowner for inverse condemnation when the allegation of the complaint is that the landowner's property has been "damaged" by a diminution in value resulting from a public utility's construction and operation of an electrical transmission line for public use on nearby property. BACKGROUND These cases were...
OPINION BY Justice DONALD W. LEMONS. In this appeal, we consider whether the Circuit Court of Fairfax County erred in allowing the plaintiff to take a nonsuit as a matter of right pursuant to Code 8.01-380(B) based on its determination that the plaintiff's prior voluntary dismissal in federal court was not a nonsuit under Code 8.01-380. I. Facts and Proceedings Below Adel S. Kebaish ("Dr. Kebaish"), a private practice orthopedic/spine surgeon, entered into a Professional Services...
Opinion by Justice WILLIAM C. MIMS. In this appeal, we consider whether a homeowners' association violated its declaration when it assigned parking spaces in a common area to lot owners on an unequal basis. We also consider whether an award of attorneys' fees to the prevailing party in an action to enforce the declaration was proper under Code 55-515(A). I. BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS BELOW The Manchester Oaks subdivision encompasses 57 townhouses, 30 of which were constructed...
OPINION BY Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR. These companion appeals arise out of a dispute between a government contractor, Preferred Systems Solutions, Inc. (PSS), and one of its subcontractors, GP Consulting, LLC (GP). PSS sued GP following GP's termination of its contract with PSS and its commencement of a subsequent contract with Accenture, LLP, a PSS competitor. PSS alleged breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and tortious interference with contract, seeking injunctive as...
OPINION BY Senior Justice CHARLES S. RUSSELL. This appeal involves interpretation of the tolling provisions of Code 8.01-229(E)(3), as it affects the running of the statute of limitations after a nonsuit. The circuit court decided the case on the pleadings and the facts are stated as set forth therein and in a written statement of facts signed by the trial judge pursuant to Rule 5:11(e). Facts and Proceedings On July 3, 2007, Gene L. McKinney (the decedent) was taken by ambulance to a...
Opinion by Justice S. BERNARD GOODWYN. In this appeal, we consider whether the circuit court erred in remitting a jury verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages to a seaman injured while on authorized shore leave in a foreign port. Background Christopher T. Hale filed this action in the Circuit Court of the City of Portsmouth in March 2009 to recover maintenance and cure and compensatory and punitive damages from his former employer, Maersk Line Limited (Maersk). Hale claims that he...
Opinion by Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR. Robert Charles Gleason, Jr., received two death sentences following pleas of guilty to capital murder in the killings of Harvey Grey Watson and Aaron Cooper. Although Gleason has waived his appeals of right, Code 17.1-313 mandates that we review the death sentences. In this review, we consider whether the sentences were imposed "under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor" and whether the sentences are "excessive or...
Opinion by Senior Justice LAWRENCE L. KOONTZ, JR. In this appeal, we consider whether the circuit court correctly determined that certain exchanges of e-mails between members of a local school board did not constitute a "Meeting" within the meaning of Code 2.2-3701 and, thus, did not violate the notice and open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Code 2.2-3700 et seq. We further consider whether the court erred in concluding that because the citizen...
OPINION BY Justice CLEO E. POWELL. In this appeal from a judgment in a wrongful death action, we consider whether the circuit court erred in holding that the exclusivity provision of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act (the "Act") bars a non-dependent individual who is not eligible to collect benefits under the Act from bringing an action in tort. We further consider whether the circuit court erred in holding that this provision of the Act bars an action in tort against the supplier of a...
Opinion by Justice S. BERNARD GOODWYN. In this appeal, we consider whether the circuit court erred in finding that a locality needs the consent of a neighboring property owner to rezone a parcel that was originally part of an undivided property, to which certain proffers applied. We also consider whether a landowner can acquire a vested right in a road shown on a town plan or in the zoning classification of neighboring property. Background In an action filed in the Circuit Court of Loudoun...
Opinion by Justice DONALD W. LEMONS. In this appeal, we consider whether the Circuit Court of Arlington County ("trial court") erred when it sustained the plea in bar by ABM Janitorial Services—Mid Atlantic, Inc., ABM Janitorial Services—Southeast, LLC, and Monday Properties Services, LLC (collectively, "the Defendants") and dismissed with prejudice a personal injury suit brought by Kesha D. Napper ("Napper"), based on its conclusion that Napper was a statutory employee of the Defendants...
Opinion by Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR. Geoff Livingston and 134 other homeowners or renters (collectively Plaintiffs) in Fairfax County's (County) Huntington subdivision brought this inverse condemnation suit against the County and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) after their homes were flooded during a severe storm in the summer of 2006. The circuit court dismissed the suit on demurrer, holding in relevant part that a single occurrence of flooding cannot support an inverse...
Opinion By Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR. Pursuant to Article VI, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia and Rule 5:40, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division (the district court), by its order entered August 16, 2011, certified questions of law to this Court concerning whether Virginia recognizes tortious interference with parental rights as a cause of action and, if so, what elements constitute such a tort. I. Background The certified...
Opinion by Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, Jr. These companion appeals arise out of a personal-injury suit brought by a former Gloucester High School (GHS or school) student who was injured in a fight with another student on school grounds. On the morning of the fight, an assistant principal at the school received a report that the fight would occur sometime that day. He did not act on the report before the fight. The injured student sued the other student involved in the fight, a third student...
Opinion by Justice LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR. In this appeal, we address the standing of a dissenting minority shareholder bringing a derivative suit under Code 13.1-672.1 against the majority shareholder of a two-shareholder corporation while simultaneously seeking the judicial dissolution of the corporation. We also address the award of attorneys' fees and costs to the minority shareholder. I. Background This case arises out of a dispute between two attorneys, John Cattano and Caroline Bragg,...
Opinion by Justice ELIZABETH A. McCLANAHAN. Professional Building Maintenance Corporation (PBM) appeals from the judgment of the circuit court, which sustained the demurrer of the School Board of the County of Spotsylvania (the School Board) and dismissed PBM's action. For the reasons that follow, we will reverse the judgment of the circuit court. I. Facts and Proceedings Below PBM, which is in the business of providing janitorial and industrial cleaning services, filed an amended complaint...
OPINION BY Senior Justice ELIZABETH B. LACY. In this appeal we consider whether the circuit court erred in granting judicial dissolution of Russell Realty Associates (RRA or the Partnership) pursuant to Code 50-73.117(5) based on its findings that the economic purpose of RRA is likely to be unreasonably frustrated and that the business can no longer practicably operate in conformity with the partnership agreement. Because we find that there is sufficient evidence to support the circuit court'...
