I was reading through CA4’s recent opinion in Le Doux v. Western Express, Inc., ___ F.4th ___ (4th Cir. 2025), when I came across this footnote:

Western Express and Worthy contend that we review the decision for plain error because Le Doux never briefed or argued in the district court whether Virginia law permits

Senator Surovell has introduced SB999, which would change the CAV’s standards for granting oral argument to track federal practice. Specifically, it would make these changes to Code Section 17.1-403:

The Supreme Court shall prescribe and publish the initial rules governing practice, procedure, and internal processes for the Court of Appeals designed to achieve the just,

SCOVA just handed down Baez v. Commonwealth, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting police body-cam footage. While some of the analysis is context-specific–commercial litigators and PI attorneys maybe aren’t going to spend too much time worrying about the Confrontation Clause–the opinion does have a few points worth considering

If you’ve practiced law for more than five minutes, you’ve received a responsive pleading or set of discovery responses telling you that x or y document “speaks for itself.” This claim usually answers a question or allegation about that document, intended in good faith to clarify a party’s position. For example, a complaint might allege