I was reading through CA4’s recent opinion in Le Doux v. Western Express, Inc., ___ F.4th ___ (4th Cir. 2025), when I came across this footnote:
Western Express and Worthy contend that we review the decision for plain error because
I was reading through CA4’s recent opinion in Le Doux v. Western Express, Inc., ___ F.4th ___ (4th Cir. 2025), when I came across this footnote:
Western Express and Worthy contend that we review the decision for plain error because…
Sometimes I worry that AI is going to replace lawyers. And then the universe hands me an opinion like Llewellyn v. Fechtel, showing that nothing that able to pass the Turing test could ever do our jobs.
Llewellyn is…
Senator Surovell has introduced SB999, which would change the CAV’s standards for granting oral argument to track federal practice. Specifically, it would make these changes to Code Section 17.1-403:
The Supreme Court shall prescribe and publish the initial rules governing…
You hate to see it: In Wolfe v. Wolfe, the ex husband filed a pro se motion to modify child support. The court granted the motion in part and denied it in part. In its final order, it said:…
Adam Feldman takes a look at “The Changing Face of Supreme Court Oral Arguments” at his Legalytics Substack. The whole article is interesting and worth reading. Here are his takeaways:
· Oral arguments are taking longer and there is no…
SCOVA just handed down Baez v. Commonwealth, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting police body-cam footage. While some of the analysis is context-specific–commercial litigators and PI attorneys maybe aren’t going to spend too…
SCOVA handed down a fun published order recently in a local-government case, Rebh v. County Board of Arlington County. I know, right? But bear with me.
Rebh and a bunch of landowners challenged a land-use plan adopted by the…
If you’ve practiced law for more than five minutes, you’ve received a responsive pleading or set of discovery responses telling you that x or y document “speaks for itself.” This claim usually answers a question or allegation about that document,…
I’m always amazed at how people find new ways to lose appeals. Longtime friend of De Novo Monica Monday showed me a new one earlier this year: In two interlocutory appeals she was resisting, the petitioner missed the 15-day deadline…
On Tuesday, the CAV handed down its opinion in Pegasystems Inc. v. Appian Corporation, reversing the largest jury verdict in Virginia history. Pegasystems is a trade-secrets case. The jury tagged Pegas with a verdict of more than $2 billion.…