Appeals Granted

Case

ELIZABETH RIVER CROSSINGS OPCO, LLC v. DANNY MEEKS, ET AL.
(Record Number 130954)

From

The Circuit Court of the City of Portsmouth; J. Cales, Jr., Judge

Counsel

Robert M. Tata and Stuart A. Raphael (Hunton & Williams LLP) and Dane H. Butswinkas (Williams & Connolly LLP) for appellants.

Patrick M. McSweeney, Christopher I. Kachouroff (Dominion Law Center, P.C.) and Robert J. Cynkar (Cuneo, Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP) for appellees.

Assignments of Error

1. The trial court erred in holding that the tolls on the Midtown Tunnel/Downtown Tunnel/MLK Extension Project are unconsitutional taxes, rather than valid user fees.
2. The trial court erred in holding that the General Assembly unconstitutionally delegated toll-setting authority to VDOT.
3. The trial court erred in denying Defendants' motion to stay the effect of the judgment pending appeal.

Assignments of Cross-Error

1. The Circuit Court erred by not granting summary judgment to Appellees on Counts 1 and 2 on the alternative ground that exacting a rate of return on private investment - at levels agreed to by VDOT and ERCO - through tolls imposed on users of the Downtown Tunnel/Midtown Tunnel/Martin Luther King Expressway Extension Project is an exclusively legislative function that was unconstitutionally exercised by, or unconstitutionally delegated to, VDOT.
2. The Circuit Court erred by not granting summary judgment to Appellees on Counts 1 and 2 on the alternative ground that the contract by which VDOT commits to ERCO the power to exact tolls for the use of public facilities - which tolls include a return on the ERCO's investment - for as long as 58 years unconstitutionally abridges the police power of the General Assembly and the sovereignty of the Commonwealth.

Date Revised
  07-09-2013 to include Assignments of Cross-Error

Date Granted

  6-20-2013