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Hershfield v. Town of Colonial

Court of Appeals of Virginia. Richmond
Jan 19, 1999
Record No. 0628-98-2 (Va. Ct. App. Jan. 19, 1999)

Opinion

Record No. 0628-98-2

January 19, 1999

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Westmoreland County, Joseph E. Spruill, Jr., Judge.

(Charles Hershfield, pro se).

Appellant submitting on briefs.

John E. Tyler, Jr., Town Attorney, for appellee Town of Colonial Beach.

John B. Purcell, Jr., Assistant Attorney General (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General; Richard B. Zorn, Senior Assistant Attorney General, on brief), for appellee State Building Code Technical Review Board.

Present: Judges Benton, Willis and Lemons.


MEMORANDUM OPINION

Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, recodifying Code § 17-116.010, this opinion is not designated for publication.


Charles Hershfield contends that the trial court erred in refusing to accept jurisdiction over his appeal from the decision of the State Building Code Technical Review Board. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

On April 6, 1996, the Town of Colonial Beach notified Hershfield that his house violated several building code requirements. Hershfield appealed those determinations to the Colonial Beach Board of Building Code Appeals, and then to the State Building Code Technical Review Board ("the Board"). The Board reversed some of the determinations and upheld others. The Board's order was sent to Hershfield on May 23, 1997, by certified mail to his last known address.

On July 26, 1997, Hershfield filed a notice of appeal to the trial court. The Town of Colonial Beach and the Board filed special pleas challenging the trial court's jurisdiction. The trial court sustained those pleas, holding that it lacked jurisdiction because Hershfield's notice of appeal was filed untimely.

Hershfield also assigns error to the trial court's denial of his motion to quash the town's letter of violations for due process concerns. We do not reach that issue because the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the matter.

Rule 2A:2 states, in relevant part:

Any party appealing from a . . . case decision shall file, within 30 days after adoption of the regulation or after service of the final order in the case decision, with the agency secretary a notice of appeal signed by him or his counsel. In the event that service of a case decision upon a party is accomplished by mail, 3 days shall be added to the 30-day period. Service under this Rule shall be consistent with [Code] § 9-6.14:14 and, if made by mail, shall be sufficient if sent by registered or certified mail to the party's last address known to the agency.

Hershfield contends that the thirty days within which he was required to file his notice of appeal began to run when he received the final order from the Board. He argues that he received the order on June 26, 1997, and had thirty days from that date, or until July 26, 1997, in which to file his notice of appeal. Nothing in the language of Rule 2A:2 supports Hershfield's argument. The rule provided him thirty days plus three days from the mailing of the order to him. Thus, the deadline for filing his notice of appeal was June 25, 1997, thirty-three days after the service of the final order by mailing. The trial court correctly declined jurisdiction, because Hershfield's notice of appeal was not filed timely.

The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

Affirmed.


Summaries of

Hershfield v. Town of Colonial

Court of Appeals of Virginia. Richmond
Jan 19, 1999
Record No. 0628-98-2 (Va. Ct. App. Jan. 19, 1999)
Case details for

Hershfield v. Town of Colonial

Case Details

Full title:CHARLES HERSHFIELD v. TOWN OF COLONIAL BEACH AND STATE BUILDING CODE…

Court:Court of Appeals of Virginia. Richmond

Date published: Jan 19, 1999

Citations

Record No. 0628-98-2 (Va. Ct. App. Jan. 19, 1999)