Tyler C. Southall*, From Animal Control to Zoning: 2019 Local Government Law Update, 54 U. Rich. L. Rev. 133 (2019).
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The goal of this Article is to review significant recent developments in Virginia local government law. First, this Article discusses a number of Supreme Court of Virginia and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals cases published between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019. These cases involve questions of the First Amendment and social media, the First Amendment and employment law, attorney-client privilege and Freedom of Information Act requests, vested rights issues in zoning ordinances, the powers of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and public finance. Second, this Article addresses new laws from the 2019 General Assembly. It is impossible to cover every important case and every relevant statutory amendment, so this Article focuses on the most important and/or interesting new cases and new laws.
* County Attorney, Dinwiddie County, Virginia. J.D., 2009, University of Virginia School of Law; B.A., 2006, University of Virginia. Any views expressed by the author are his own and not necessarily the views of Dinwiddie County. The author is indebted to the format used by Andrew McRoberts and Steven Durbin in an excellent previous University of Richmond Law Review piece on local government law. Andrew R. McRoberts & Steven V. Durbin, Annual Survey of Virginia Law: Local Government Law, 47 U. Rich. L. Rev. 257 (2012). The author thanks the editors of the University of Richmond Law Review, who provided many helpful comments in the editing of this Article. Any errors are the author’s own.
Jeffrey R. Adams & Lucas I. Pangle, The Downfall of “Incumbent Protection”: Case Study and Implications, 54 U.R. L. Rev. 243 (2019).
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On January 9, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down Virginia Code section 24.2-509—Virginia’s long-standing “Incumbent Protection Act” (or the “Act”). The Incumbent Protection Act was the only statute of its kind, and had endured criticism by grassroots commentators. Yet, the Incumbent Protection Act had long evaded scrutiny in the courtroom. Indeed, the Incumbent Protection Act’s courtroom history is labyrinthine, replete with interesting and significant commentaries on party rights, standing, and public policy preference for primaries. In fact, before its eventual demise, it had been implicated in several lawsuits bringing constitutional challenges to various Virginia election laws and had dodged one direct assault by defending on standing grounds.
By the time the challenge to the Incumbent Protection Act culminated with the Fourth Circuit’s January 9, 2019 decision, litigation to dismantle it had been ongoing for almost five years between two different suits. Indeed, the Incumbent Protection Act was felled not by one, but two swings.
This Article chronicles the course of the litigation that ultimately toppled the Incumbent Protection Act. Spanning two lawsuits and no fewer than seven opinions, the story of the litigation provides insight to practitioners who hope to navigate the interlocking and overlapping hierarchies of party plans, state laws, and constitutional rights. Following the summary and analysis of the litigation, this Article will assess the ramifications of the two Fourth Circuit opinions and will look ahead to issues likely of interest to future challengers to Virginia’s election laws.
Dr. Stephen Allred*, An Analysis of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Claims in the Virginia Workplace, 54 U.R. L. Rev. 283 (2019).
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This Article first traces the development of the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress as applied to the workplace in the Commonwealth of Virginia in Part I, and offers some observations about the significant hurdles a plaintiff may face in trying to successfully hold an employer accountable for conduct that many in our society would deem unacceptable. After reviewing the evolution of the doctrine since it was first recognized in Virginia nearly fifty years ago in Part II, Part III returns to the incident described above involving Linda Bodewig and her employer, and offers an analysis of how her case would likely be decided in the Virginia courts today—and whether that decision would be the right one.
Joanna R. Steele, Comment, “In the Little World”: Breaking Virginia’s Foster-Care-to-Prison Pipeline Using Restorative Justice, 54 U.R. L. Rev. 313 (2019).
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Measuring a nation’s strength by the health of its economy or armed forces is easy. In those regards, the United States is one of the strongest nations on Earth. If we judge our country’s strength by how it cares for the 443,000 children in foster care,[2]however, the result is completely different. The United States has created a foster-care-to-prison pipeline that sweeps vulnerable children into the penal system at alarming rates.
This Comment proposes that integrating restorative justice conferencing into Virginia’s foster care system can help break its foster-care-to-prison pipeline. Part I details Virginia’s foster care system and the foster-care-to-prison pipeline. Part II reviews and explains how restorative conferencing in Glenmona, Northern Ireland’s equivalent foster care system correlates strongly with decreased incarceration of foster children. Part III outlines how Virginia can implement the same restorative conferencing in its foster care system and pioneer a program that could affect its foster-care-to-prison pipeline.
MaryAnn Grover, The First Amendment and the Great College Yearbook Reckoning, 53 U. Rich. L. Rev. Online 19 (2019).
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