Last week, the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued a significant 24-page opinion in David Tidwell, et al. v. Kenneth. M Goldsmith, et al., Record No. 0629-24-1 and Record No. 0666-24-1, in consolidated cases concerning the...more
7/9/2025
/ Adverse Possession ,
Appellate Courts ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Easements ,
Judicial Authority ,
Land Surveys ,
Legal Opinion ,
Property Owners ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Title Insurance
Yesterday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia held that when a deed conveys “all that certain tract or parcel of land, consisting of a . . . right of way,” that right of way is conveyed in fee simple, not as an easement. In...more
Yesterday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued a significant opinion in Thibault Enterprises, LLC v. David A. Yost, et al., Yost Living Trust, a case involving a dispute over a 50-foot granted easement for ingress and...more
1/16/2025
/ Appellate Courts ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Deeds ,
Easements ,
Ingress/Egress ,
Living Trust ,
Nuisance ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Property Damage ,
Property Owners ,
Real Estate Development ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Title Insurance ,
Trusts
Yesterday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia held where a plaintiff alleges its property is merely in the possession of a third party under a paramount title, it is insufficient to plead actual or constructive eviction, an...more
Recently, the Circuit Court of Arlington County, Virginia, issued an important decision involving the modification and enforcement of deeds of trust. In Mahaley v. Metters, CL21002581-00/01, 2023 Va. Cir. LEXIS 80 (Arlington...more
6/13/2023
/ Deed of Trust ,
Fraud ,
Line of Credit ,
Loan Modifications ,
Modification ,
Promissory Notes ,
Property Tax ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Short-Term Loans ,
Title Insurance ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Unsecured Debt
Wells v. Beville, Record No. 210469 - Yesterday, in an unpublished order, the Supreme Court of Virginia held that a covenant restricting the sale of property on Smith Mountain Lake was unenforceable due to changed...more
Recently, a unanimous panel of the United States Circuit Court for the Fourth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion shooting down a borrower’s claim that the substitute trustee of his deed of trust breached its fiduciary...more
Strict Construction of Instruments of Conveyance for Easements, Wavell v. Lengel, 2021 Va. Cir. LEXIS 158, Case No. CL20000484-00 (Amherst Co. Cir. Ct. July 12, 2021) -
Strict construction of canons of legal...more