tloojs
- Aug 31, 2021
- 3 min
Do away with Assignments of Error? I Think Not, Mr. O’Keeffe.
Fellow Appellate Blawger James J. O’Keeffe has a provocative post on his website which I picked up on Linked-In and commented there and he replied and I re-replied (and he may have re-re-replied by now). I will not go into significant detail as you can click the links and read the back-and-forth yourself, but his premise is that assignments of error will serve no purpose in briefs filed in appeals of right — he is positing that the new rules governing appeals in the Court of
tloojs
- Aug 25, 2021
- 6 min
A Divided Panel of the Court of Appeals Issues an Opinion that is Cause for Alarm Among the Trial an
In the film A Fish Called Wanda, when the character portrayed by Kevin Kline is confronted with the failure of another of his schemes to double cross his partners in crime, he pauses for a moment with a perplexed look then says in a loud, monotone, “DISAPPOINTED!” Upon reading the majority opinion in today’s only published opinion from the Court of Appeals, I experienced much the same reaction. Jacks v. Commonwealth is the second appellate court opinion to directly address t
tloojs
- Aug 13, 2021
- 16 min
An overdue compendium summarizing and providing commentary on published opinions from the Court of A
The summer doldrums (and some real legal work) have delayed reporting on recent published opinions of the Court of Appeals of Virginia (not to mention the BIG NEWS of 8 – that’s right 8 – new members appointed to the Court this week – a post on this momentous event will follow in the next day or so). So here is a recap of the cases that have been handed down recently: Daryl O. Tyler v. Commonwealth of Virginia is a published order denying a petition for a writ of actual inno