Virginia Businesses in the News


Legal and Regulatory

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For the Record is compiled from company releases, business journals and newspaper reports from around the state. If you have an item for these listings: • Mail it to: For the Record Virginia Business Magazine P.O. Box 85333 Richmond, VA 23293 • E-mail it to ForTheRecord@va-business.com • Fax it to (804) 649-6311

Dominion Virginia Power, a Richmond-based utility company, received approval from the State Corporation Commission to transfer control of its transmission lines to PJM Interconnection, a regional power grid in Pennsylvania. The SCC included stipulations to protect consumers from interruption of power, except in emergencies, and to require annual reports by Dominion to help monitor the impact of the grid on the electricity market. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Norfolk Southern won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that limited its liability for damage to cargo in a derailment. James N. Kirby Pty Ltd. of Australia had sued Norfolk Southern for $1.5 million of damage to a shipment of machinery en route to Huntsville, Ala. The high court affirmed the railroad’s liability was limited to $5,000, or $500 for each of the ten damaged shipping containers, under federal maritime law as defined in the 1936 Carriage of Goods by Sea Act. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Philip Morris USA, a Richmond cigarette manufacturer, lost a ruling in North Carolina’s Superior Court in a case where the company claimed the state had overcharged it on taxes. Philip Morris had made changes to a special formula to value the company’s presence in North Carolina for tax purposes. The court ruled the company could not do so without approval of a state tax review board and upheld an assessment of $20 million in back taxes. (The Associated Press)