Almost 50 years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in a short, six paragraph opinion, ruled that pro se parties, those without lawyers, are entitled to “notice sufficiently understandable to [the pro se…
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/ Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Constitutional Law
Public-camping ordinances across Virginia and the United States dodged a constitutional bullet that would have prohibited criminal penalties for violations those laws if the defendant did not have adequate access to shelter. …
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/ Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
The Supreme Court of Virginia taught appellate practitioners yet another hard lesson in how procedural pitfalls can scuttle otherwise compelling appeals. In Eckard v. Commonwealth, the pitfall was failing to get the complete…
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/ Civil Procedure, Criminal Law
Many employers breathed a sigh of relief last week after a federal judge in Texas struck down the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements…
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/ Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Business Torts, Labor & Employment Law
On July 1, 2024, new Virginia Code § 8.01-66.1 became effective and created a new bad faith cause of action that can be significant for underinsured or uninsured (“UIM”) carriers…
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/ Civil Remedies, Insurance
Effective July 1, 2024, Virginia has implemented several significant changes to its real estate laws. In this year’s installment, tenants get a whole lot of protections (kind of), HOAs are put on a tighter leash, and brokers…
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/ Real Estate - Residential
It’s Christmas come early in Virginia this year. As of July 1, 2024, attorneys in Virginia can officially (and permanently!) use electronic signatures to sign pleadings in Virginia’s state courts. It only took twenty-plus years…
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/ Civil Procedure, Electronic Discovery, Science, Computers, & Technology
A few years ago, a friend of mine was part of an organization that received complaints about one of its leaders, which led to questions about whether the leader should be fired. The organization debated internally about what to…
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/ Administrative Law, Business Organizations, Labor & Employment Law
Last month, in Snyder v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States narrowly construed the federal anti-bribery statute. In that case, the mayor of Portage, Indiana worked with other officials to carefully prepare a…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Criminal Law, Government Contracting
“A deadline means what it says,” is a simple enough concept. But it’s not always true…
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/ Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law
Ransomware continues to make headlines in the data security world, and with good reason. A report issued earlier this year by the Director of National Intelligence highlighted the continued surge in ransomware attacks in the…
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/ Privacy, Health, Science, Computers, & Technology
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rattled the business world last month when it issued a rule that would nullify most noncompete agreements. Within 24 hours, the FTC was sued by two different parties that argued the agency had…
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/ Labor & Employment Law
On Friday, April 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education released its final rule amending the implementing regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). The new regulations mandate an overhaul of…
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/ Education Law
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to issue a Final Rule that would prohibit most employee noncompete agreements..…
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/ Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Labor & Employment Law
The US Supreme Court’s decision in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado earlier this month will affect how local governments impose impact fees in the future and who pays certain development costs…
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/ Administrative Law
