This week in the Virginia Supreme Court

According to the Supreme Court's argument docket, cases scheduled to be heard this coming week include:

Mullins v. Town of Coeburn - where the attorneys are Tim McAfee and Gary Gilliam from Wise County

Chandler, et al. v. Graffeo, M.D., et al. - in which the issues include the use of testimony from members of a Medical Malpractice Review Panel, and the counsel include Abingdon's Mary Lynn Tate

Nguyen v. General Auto Repair, Inc. - where the issues include the trial court's award of "only $904 pursuant to the fee-shifting provision of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act for 68.4 hours of services in a case brought under that statute"

Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, AFL-CIO v. Jones - where the appellant seeks relief from a defamation verdict, with punitive damages

Cowan v. Hospice Support Care, Inc. - where the issue is whether the trial court "improperly held that Plaintiff was barred from bringing a lawsuit against a charity for gross negligence or willful and wanton negligence of its employees or volunteers."

City of Chesapeake v. Cunningham - where the issues include whether the trial court erred in refusing to strike the plaintiff's claim for punitive damages (surely you can't get punitive damages against a City in Virginia, but maybe there's more to it somehow)

City of Martinsville v. Commonwealth Boulevard Associates, LLC - where the issues include whether the trial court erred in adopting "the opinion of the taxpayer’s expert as reflecting fair market value"

Commonwealth of Virginia, ex rel. Jerry W. Kilgore, Attorney General v. Patriot Tobacco Company - where the issue is whether the trial court erred "when it held that it does not have jurisdiction over a non-resident tobacco product manufacturer whose tobacco products are sold in the Commonwealth"

McCloskey, Administrator, etc. v. Kane, M.D. - where the issues include whether the trial court "erred in determining that Dr. Timothy Kane was a state employee as a matter of law rather than sending the issue to a jury"

Billups v. Carter, et al. - where the issues include whether the trial court erred "in ruling that the Plaintiff-Petitioner failed to meet her burden to demonstrate that she had properly filed a notice of her claims under the Virginia Tort Claims Act," when "the Defendant never alleged that notice had not been properly filed"

Lindeman v. Lesnick, M.D. - where the issue is whether the trial court "erred in denying Defendant Lindeman's Motion to Strike based on Lindeman's absolute privilege to give the documents containing defamatory statements to the attorney representing him in a workers' compensation proceeding"