Virginia: Special Cases – A Lawyer’s Unconscionability

On January 2, 2020, the Virginia Supreme Court posted an unpublished opinion about declaratory judgment, necessary party, and attorney’s fees provisions in Flint Hill School v. McIntosh, No. 181678, an appeal from Fairfax County Circuit Court. Flint Hill reviewed extensively the “actual controversy” requirement for declaratory judgment, and found it satisfied. Id. at 3-7. It also found that one (missing) parent signatory was not a necessary party. Id. at 7. Significantly, the Court found that the agreement at issue was an “adhesion contract,” and that its attorney’s fees provision was unconscionable for being “overly broad” and, as such, void and unenforceable. Id. at 7-8.