As the great and the good work on revising the rules for the expanded Court of Appeals of Virginia, I have a question: Should the Court of Appeals have binding assignments of error?
The current rules, of course, require assignments
Continue Reading Should the Court of Appeals Require Binding Assignments of Error?
Mayer Brown’s Federal Appellate Practice has a useful checklist of questions to ask when evaluating potential issues for appeal:
I’m still trying to wrap my head around SCOVA’s recent opinion in Lucas v. Riverhill Poultry, Inc.
Lucas seems to say that a plaintiff who fails to move the trial court to reconsider an interlocutory ruling has waived the issue
Continue Reading Lucas v. Riverhill Poultry, Inc.: SCOVA Announces Brutal New Waiver Rule
What better way to celebrate Memorial Day than 1000 or so words about some recent SCOVA appellate arcana?
(You can probably tell by now if this post is for you.)
Last week, SCOVA handed down Bonanno v. Quinn, an opinion
Continue Reading Bonanno v. Quinn: SCOVA on Non-Party Appeals, Standing, Jurisdiction, & Appellate Attorney’s Fees
Courtesy of Farnam Street, here is some writing advice from John Swartzwelder, the funniest writer from the Golden Age of The Simpsons (and the guy who wrote the lyrics to Spider Pig):
Since writing is very hard and
Continue Reading Writing Advice from John Swartzwelder
SCOVA handed down a new Rule 1:1 opinion this week, Kosko v. Ramser. The basic setup is straightforward: A med-mal plaintiff took a nonsuit on the second day of trial, September 11, 2019. Because the nonsuit was within seven
Continue Reading Kosko v. Ramser and Post-Nonsuit Finality Hijinks
Longtime readers know that my favorite appellate genre is probable the “The Standard of Review Decides Cases” opinion. The Fourth Circuit just handed down a solid example in Burgess v. Goldstein.
Writing for the panel, Judge Quattlebaum leads off
Continue Reading New “The Standard of Review Decides Cases” Case from CA4
Join me for a moment in considering Myers v. Commonwealth. Myers is a recent SCOVA opinion reversing a conviction for carrying a concealed weapon in a zippered backpack on the floor of the passenger seat of his car. The relevant statute,
Continue Reading Justice Kelsey’s Dictionaries
