Youngkin Signs New Bill: The Elephant in the Room

Do you have a pet elephant? Are you the owner of an exotic zoo? If you deal with elephants on a daily basis you need to be aware of the licensure requirements and the laws that are in place with respect to caring for those elephants. Since elephants are an important part of the Virginia economy, the General Assembly proposed a new law back in January designed to protect elephants and deter improper treatment of animals.

Since that new law was proposed, the law went through several changes. It was eventually signed by the governor earlier this yearin April. The new law provides for serious financial penalties to:

(i) use electricity, martingales, or block and tackle, engage in physical punishment resulting in damage, scarring, or breaking of skin, or insert any instrument into any bodily orifice of an elephant to discipline an elephant;

(ii) use a bullhook, ankus, baseball bat, axe handle, or other device designed to inflict fear or pain for the purpose of training or controlling the behavior of an elephant; or

(iii) brandish, exhibit, or display any device described in clause (ii) in the presence of an elephant. B.

The fines for this kind of behavior can be quite steep:

A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 for the first offense and not to exceed $5,000 for subsequent violations.

Therefore, if you are operating a zoo or dealing with elephants, make sure you are well aware of all state, federal and local rules regarding their care. If you do not follow these guidelines, there could be even harsher penalties in the form of criminal prosecution. If you are thinking of opening a zoo, make sure to talk to an experienced attorney that can help guide you through the process.

Beware of Purple Trees: Trespassing Basics

Entering someone else’s property without permission can be very dangerous. People take their property rights very seriously in Virginia and trespassing on the wrong person’s land can result in serious legal and physical problems. There have been stories of people getting shot for trespassing. Therefore, you need to be aware of when you are allowed to be on someone else’s property.

What is Trespassing? Trespassing is defined as entering or remaining on someone’s property after having been forbidden from being there. That notice can be oral, written, or posted notice. In other words, if your neighbor tells you to get off their lawn, get off their lawn. If a neighbor sends you a stern letter to keep off their lawn, keep of their lawn. If your neighbor puts up a sign that says no trespassing, stay off their lawn.

However, one little know method of keeping people off your property is by painting perimeter trees. Virginia law provides painting trees as a valid means of posting that someone is not allowed to be on their property.

What Color Must a Tree Be Paint? The two colors permitted by Virginia law are purple and aluminum. Therefore, if you are out hiking and see a purple tree, leave immediately. The last thing you want is a criminal trespass charge or getting shot. Therefore, beware of purple trees.

Governor Passes Law Empowering Toll Facilities

Toll roads can be either a convenience or a nightmare depending on where you live and what your commute looks like. Each of these toll roads have their own costs associated with use. There are also a lot of different toll facility operators. Virginia has created a special website that gives you details on how these toll facilities are operated. The website offers maps and other detailed information about where these toll facilities are located and who runs these toll facilities.

There is also a program known as E-ZPASS that allows you quickly pay tolls as you travel and you do not have to worry about fishing coins out of your wallet. However, the E-ZPASS is not perfect. I have seen situations where the E-ZPASS didn’t register or the bank failed to process the transaction. If that happens, you are likely to get a toll violation notice sent to you. Not paying these violation notices on time can have huge consequences.

What happens if you don’t pay your violation notice on time? The answer depends on what facility you didn’t pay the toll at. Although the facility rules are different, if your violation notices keep stacking up the Department of Motor Vehicles may refuse to renew your vehicle registration. Therefore, it is extremely important that you immediately pay any missed tolls as soon as you find out.

What new law did the Governor pass? You can read that new law here. Prior to the new law, these toll facilities were required you send you notices by certified mail. That would ensure that you received the notices. However, the new law expands the types of ways that toll facilities can send you these notices. You may start getting notices in your email inbox that you used when you signed up for the E-ZPASS. So long as the communication is trackable, the tolling facility is allowed to use it. Therefore, you need to make sure all the information on your vehicle registration and E-ZPASS account are up to date. Otherwise, you may get a nasty surprise from the DMV when you next go to get your vehicle registration updated!

New Proposed Law Increases Transparency of Criminal Proceedings

It is the time of year when the Virginia General Assembly starts to vote on new laws that might come into effect either this year or next year. One of the major areas of law that is getting an overhaul this year is criminal procedure. Criminal procedure involves all the rights of defendants while they are defending against a criminal charge. Common examples include the right to speedy trial, the right to a preliminary hearing, and the right to jury sentencing.

The New Proposed Law Changes How Jury Selection Works. One of the most important part of defending yourself in a criminal proceeding is carefully selecting who will be deciding the case. We call this process “voir dire.” Your attorney will go through a series of questions with your potential jury members to determine if there is anyone that has any prejudice towards you or your kind of case. For example, if you are charged with a sexual offense then your lawyer may ask the jury members if they have been the victim of a violence crime or if a friend or family member has.

One area of questioning that has been traditionally forbidden is getting into the potential punishments that a Defendant is facing. The Commonwealth Attorney, the office responsible for prosecuting crimes, has always been reluctant to tell potential jury members how long they could be sending people to jail for fear that potential jurors would realize how unfair many types of crime punishments are.

In an effort to fix that and make the jury selection process more transparent, the General Assembly has proposed adding the following language to the law;

Counsel for either party shall have the right to examine the jurors regarding the potential range of punishment regardless of whether the jury will ascertain punishment pursuant to § 19.2-295.

This change is also combined with the power of a defendant to withdraw their request that their sentence be imposed by the jury rather than the judge. This gives more freedom to a Defendant in deciding how their case will go to trial.

Why you need a good criminal defense lawyer. A good criminal defense lawyer will know how to take full advantage of all the new laws that are being voted on. Make sure that your defense attorney knows these new laws so they can protect you in court.

New Proposed Law Impacts Advance Medical Directives

An advance medical directive is a document that allows you to designate someone to make medical decisions on your behalf in the event that you are unable to make those decisions for yourself. For example, you might be in a coma or suffering from reduced capacity as a result of a car wreck and are on life prolonging treatment. An advance medical directive can allow your loved one to know your wishes ahead of time and inform the doctor as to what treatments you are refusing. Without an advance medical, the doctors may be limited in making decisions regarding your healthcare.

But what happens if you are going through a divorce or a custody battle?

New law addresses what happens to these documents pending custody or divorce cases. These documents were not previously automatically revoked in the event that you were going through a divorce or a custody battle. Lawyers used to see people forgetting to change their medical directives after breaking up with a significant other. This could cause heated battles between family members and your ex regarding how to handle your medical decisions.

In response to these concerns, the new law, when it goes into effect, will cause these advance medical directives to automatically terminate when there has been a custody or divorce case filed. That means you don’t have to wait for the conclusion of those cases in order to know that your family can make medical decisions for you and not be bound by the decisions of your ex.

Unintended consequences and word of caution. There are many different reasons why a couple may decide to get a divorce. Many older couples are divorcing for monetary reasons given changes in the economy. Not everyone who is getting a divorce is necessarily separating. When these couples are going through these financial issues, they may not realize that their estate planning is at risk.

There may also be other reasons that a loving couple may need to go through the custody courts in the event of incapacity. For example, a doctor or school provider may not be willing to allow services to be provided without both parents signing off on the paperwork. There are some situations where a custody petition may need to be filed that could terminate the medical directive.

It is important for every person who has an advance medical directive or estate plan to talk to their lawyer if they are contemplating filing a custody case or a divorce case to make sure their estate planning is protected.