Virginia Supreme Court Opinions Affecting Local Government Law on April 21, 2011:

The Virginia Supreme Court issued several opinions on April 21, 2011 affecting Virginia local government law. The following summaries come from the Virginia Supreme Court website:

092583 Volpe v. City of Lexington

In a suit by the administrators of a minor decedent who was an invitee at a city park that included a dammed portion of a river, and drowned in a dangerous water current (hydraulic) around the dam, the natural, ordinarily encountered dangers of the river were as a matter of law open and obvious, but the dangerous current was not necessarily visible to a swimmer, and the circuit court erred in holding as a matter of law that the dam presented such an open and obvious danger.....

100048 Dean v. Board of County Supervisors

In a condemnation proceeding, there was no abuse of discretion in the ruling of the circuit court barring, on a motion in limine, introduction by the landowners of evidence at trial regarding a particular purported comparable sale of property to the same condemnor, because the landowners in the present case failed to produce evidence sufficient to establish that the purported comparable sale was voluntary and free from compulsion and not by way of compromise....