Appellate Practice

As discussed in our recent article, the Virginia General Assembly voted to allow most criminal defendants and civil litigants to have an appeal as of right to the Court of Appeals of Virginia starting on January 1, 2022. This means that Virginia lawyers will spend more time in the Commonwealth’s appellate courts and will need to rely more on appellate specialist attorneys. Vandeventer Black is ...
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As discussed in our recent article, the Virginia General Assembly voted to allow most criminal defendants and civil litigants to have an appeal as of right to the Court of Appeals of Virginia starting on January 1, 2022.  This means that Virginia lawyers will spend more time in the Commonwealth’s appellate courts and will need to rely more on appellate specialist attorneys. Vandeventer Black is ...
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In a recent unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of the United States in NCAA v. Alston ruled that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) limits on education-related benefits are invalid under federal antitrust law. This decision will affect compensation rules for student-athletes and is perhaps a sign of potential changes ahead in the NCAA’s student-athlete compensation model. In Alston, NCAA Division 1 football and basketball student-athletes ...
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Until this last legislative session, Virginia was the only state in the nation without a right of appeal from civil judgments and criminal convictions.  However, the most recent General Assembly session passed, and the Governor signed, perhaps the most consequential piece of legislation affecting the Virginia legal system in many years: the creation of a right of appeal for most litigants, civil and criminal. Historically, ...
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In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a party’s right to contribution claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) after entering into a settlement arises only when the settlement agreement resolves CERCLA-specific liabilities.  This decision may call into question the effect of existing settlement agreements, the viability of ongoing contribution cases, and may revive the ability of  some parties ...
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In U.S. Government procurements, most solicitations specify that noncompliance with its terms and conditions may cause a proposal to be determined unacceptable or be deemed non-responsive and excluded from consideration.  However, in some cases, the agency may alter the terms and conditions through pre-award discussions.  In Safeguard Base Operations v. United States, the Federal Circuit considered the latitude an agency has to make such alterations ...
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In order to bring an action in any United States tribunal, a party must have “standing.”  “The doctrine [of standing] limits the category of litigants empowered to maintain a lawsuit in federal court to seek redress for a legal wrong.”  Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1547 (2016).  To establish constitutional standing a “plaintiff must have (1) suffered an injury in fact, (2) ...
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No questions, no stay. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled on the interplay of debriefings and automatic stays.[1]  In NIKA Technologies v. United States, the Federal Circuit reversed a Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) decision requiring an automatic stay of contract performance pursuant to the Competition in Contract Act (“CICA”) that had been previously denied by the Government Accountability ...
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reversed a bid protest decision appealed from the Court of Federal Claims after the protester raised a constitutional question.  In Veterans4You LLC v. United States, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”), an executive branch entity of the United State government (“USG”), sought to procure cable gun locks with information on the VA’s suicide prevention hotline ...
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Imagine walking into an AT&T store to sign up for a service plan and buy a new cellphone. Perhaps, you are excited to finally get your hands on the latest iPhone. At the same time your new phone is placed into one hand, a pen is placed into the other. You sign the dotted line at the bottom of the consumer service agreement. How carefully ...
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Arbitration is a means for parties to resolve disputes in a more efficient and less costly manner than seeking recourse through the judicial system.  The Federal Arbitration Act empowers the arbitrator to subpoena non-parties and their documents to an arbitration proceeding.  However, there is disagreement among the courts regarding the arbitrator’s power to compel pre-hearing document production from non-parties.  The federal circuits have approached this ...
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On June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court officially declared that LGBTQ persons are protected from discharge or discipline because of sex under the anti-discrimination provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The Court’s landmark decision came as somewhat of a surprise considering that the Court’s current conservative majority was expected to move in the opposite direction. The Court unequivocally ...
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The so-called “zone of reasonableness” standard has been long applied by federal courts and boards of contract appeals in evaluating contract interpretation when the contract is deemed ambiguous – meaning that it is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation. Ambiguity does not exist merely because the parties differ in their respective interpretations of the contract; rather, the parties’ interpretation must be reasonable, with that ...
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Recently, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided to change its practice regarding the requirements for granting a petition for appeal to create a seemingly higher threshold. A party who wishes to appeal a lower court decision to the Supreme Court of Virginia typically may not take the appeal directly before the full Supreme Court.  In fact, the majority of cases never reach the stage where ...
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Authored by attorney Neil S. Lowenstein In a recently released decision (11/18/13, Metag Insast Ticaret A.S., ASBCA No. 58616), the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals reaffirmed its earlier holding that performance evaluation disputes may constitute Contract Disputes Act (CDA) claims, if the contractor has sought a final decision, as being an appealable request for interpretation of contract terms and relief therefore arising under the ...
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Found Here: https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=sc&year=2012 There is a workers' comp case here: https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=28837 A Rule 9(j) case here: https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=28831 ...
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