General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2005>Civil Remedies and Procedure

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Civil Remedies and Procedure

Passed

P HB1518

Verdict and judgment; damages. Provides that where the court awards a plaintiff judgment for unlawful detainer or entry, the plaintiff may choose to receive a final, appealable judgment for possession and continue the case for up to 90 days in order to establish final rent and damages. At least 15 days prior to any authorized continuance date, the plaintiff shall mail a notice to the defendant, at the defendant's last known address, advising (i) of the continuance date; (ii) of the amounts of final rent and damages; and (iii) additional sums sought by the plaintiff.
Patron - Reese

P HB1556

Immunity for medical services; Board of Medicine to inform licensees. Requires the Board of Medicine to provide its licensees with a full description of the protections from civil liability that may apply where health care services are provided without compensation to a patient of a clinic that is organized in whole or in part for the delivery of health care services without charge.
Patron - Purkey

P HB1588

Unlawful detainer; removal. Makes the provisions governing removal of residential unlawful detainer actions applicable to unlawful detainer actions involving commercial tenancies.
Patron - Reese

P HB1594

Enforcement of judgments. Makes consistent the treatment of foreign and domestic judgments with respect to the timeframes for their enforcement. This bill is identical to SB 722.
Patron - Ware, O.

P HB1604

Civil recovery for professional services. Corrects a cross-reference in the statute providing for civil recovery for professional services from a citation to the statute dealing with warranties made by attorney signatures and other actions to the statute providing for additional recovery in certain civil actions concerning checks.
Patron - Kilgore

P HB1616

Civil action for shoplifting and employee theft. Conforms the civil recovery provisions for shoplifting with the criminal shoplifting provisions by (i) basing civil recovery on retail value of the goods rather than the merchant's actual wholesale cost, and (ii) making the civil recovery provision applicable when an offender appropriates goods or cash to another. This bill is identical to SB 1209.
Patron - Janis

P HB1621

Tort Claims Act; general district court jurisdiction. Extends the concurrent jurisdiction of general district courts under the Tort Claims Act to claims up to $15,000, and permits the removal of cases brought under the Act from general district court where the claim amount exceeds $4,500.
Patron - Janis

P HB1757

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act; attorney fees; failure to file affidavit. Provides that (i) where appointment of counsel is required for a servicemember pursuant to federal law the court may assess attorneys' fees and costs against any party as the court deems appropriate, and (ii) failure to file an affidavit relating to the defendant's status as a servicemember is not grounds to set aside an otherwise valid default judgment against a defendant who was not, at the time of service of process or entry of default judgment, a servicemember.
Patron - Janis

P HB1892

Sheriff's sales; reimbursement of excess costs associated with disposal of manufactured home. Authorizes the sheriff, pursuant to an action of ejectment or unlawful detainer and at the request of the owner of the property upon which the home is located, to move a manufactured home to a designated storage area. Any excess costs relating to disposal of a manufactured home that remain after a sheriff's sale shall be paid by the owner of the property from which the home was removed. The sheriff may refuse to remove or dispose of a manufactured home until the owner of the real property pays to the sheriff the estimated removal and disposition costs.
Patron - Carrico

P HB2094

Declaratory judgment; personal jurisdiction. Authorizes Virginia courts to exercise personal jurisdiction to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States over officials from other states in declaratory judgment actions relating to collection of sales taxes. A second enactment clause makes this act declaratory of existing law. This bill is identical to SB 888.
Patron - Hugo

P HB2109

Change of name. Provides that in cases involving a change in a minor's name, where one parent does not join in the name change application, service of the application shall be made on that parent in accordance with the provisions governing service of process in civil actions. Service is not required on any parent who files an answer to the application.
Patron - McQuigg

P HB2174

Privileged marital communications. Provides that in criminal and civil cases confidential communications made by one spouse to another during the course of the marriage may not be disclosed without the agreement of both spouses regardless of marital status at the time disclosure is proposed. The privilege may not be asserted in any proceeding in which the spouses are adverse parties or are charged with a crime or tort against the person or property of the other or against the minor child of either spouse.
Patron - Johnson

P HB2267

Civil immunity; school employees or volunteers reporting alleged acts of bullying or crimes. Immunizes school employees or volunteers from civil liability for the prompt good faith reporting to the appropriate school official, in compliance with specified procedures, of any alleged acts of bullying or any crimes.
Patron - Bell

P HB2503

Marriage and family therapists. Adds marriage and family therapists to certain Code sections that list other mental health professionals. These sections involve privileged communications in civil actions, evaluation of juvenile competency, compensation for expert testimony, and services falling outside of the definition of employment for purposes of unemployment compensation.
Patron - Shuler

P HB2583

Commissioners in chancery; appointment for good cause. Provides that commissioners in chancery may be appointed only by agreement of the parties with the concurrence of the court, upon motion of a party, or upon the court's own motion. The court must make a finding of good cause shown for appointing a commissioner in chancery in each individual case.
Patron - Kilgore

P HB2654

Depositions. Differentiates between party and non-party depositions and specifies where the depositions shall be taken.
Patron - Hurt

P HB2659

Medical malpractice. Requires an expert witness to certify that the health care practitioner deviated from the standard of care, and that such deviation is a proximate cause of the injuries claimed, before service of process is made. An expression of sympathy or general sense of benevolence to a patient or a patient's relative is not admissible as evidence of an admission of liability or as evidence of an admission against interest. If the patient's physical or mental condition is at issue, signs and symptoms, observations, evaluations, and histories obtained or formulated as contemporaneously documented during the course of the practitioner's treatment may be disclosed. The bill revises the definition of malpractice to limit it to a tort or contract action for personal injuries or wrongful death. Medical malpractice liability insurers are required to submit annual reports to the State Corporation Commission stating information regarding claims made against health care providers. A similar requirement was in effect from 1985 until 1996. The Board of Medicine shall require a competency assessment of any person it licenses on whose behalf three medical malpractice claims are paid in a 10-year period. The bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying Risk Management Plans for Physicians and Hospitals. This bill is identical to SB 1173.
Patron - Kilgore

P HB2669

Civil remedies; certain persons rendering emergency care who are exempt from liability. Defines "first responders," exempt from liability under the administration of smallpox vaccine provision, who are exempt from liability as any law-enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical personnel, or other public safety personnel functioning in a role identified by a federal, state, or local emergency response plan. The bill also extends the effect of such smallpox vaccine provisions from July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2008. This bill incorporates HB 2731.
Patron - McDonnell

P HB2708

Jury duty; breast-feeding mothers exempt upon request. Provides that a mother who is breast-feeding a child may be exempted from jury duty upon her request. The mother need not be "necessarily and personally responsible for a child or children 16 years of age or younger requiring continuous care.... during normal court hours" as the existing statute provides.
Patron - Sickles

P HB2833

Medical malpractice; Nurse Licensure Compact. Adds persons holding a multistate privilege to practice nursing under the Nurse Licensure Compact to the definition of "health care provider" so that such persons are included under the Commonwealth's medical malpractice laws in the same manner as registered nurses or licensed practical nurses.
Patron - Reese

P SB722

P SB723

Debtor interrogatories; supplemental proceedings. Authorizes supplemental proceedings where a judgment creditor seeks to take debtor interrogatories before the court of the county or city where the debtor resides, or in a county or city contiguous thereto. If the judgment creditor chooses to undertake such supplemental proceedings in that court, he must file in that court an abstract of the judgment rendered, and pay the required filing fees. If the judgment is satisfied, the judgment creditor shall file a copy of any releases or certificates of satisfaction in that court.
Patron - Edwards

P SB790

Notification of final order; post-trial relief. Provides that relief may be granted to a party who was denied the opportunity to pursue post-trial relief because through no fault of his own he did not receive notification of a final order. Under current law, the provision is limited to denial of the opportunity to appeal.
Patron - Obenshain

P SB827

Subpoenaed documents. Requires that all subpoenaed documents, rather than only those concerning the other party, be made available to the other party, upon that party's written request, except for good cause shown. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron - Mims

P SB832

Consumer Protection Act; accrual of cause of action. Provides that a cause of action for violations of the Consumer Protection Act based upon misrepresentation, deception, or fraud accrues when such misrepresentation, deception, or fraud is discovered or, by the exercise of due diligence, reasonably should have been discovered.
Patron - Mims

P SB888

P SB1018

Civil procedure; jury interrogatories. Allows the court to submit written interrogatories to the jury together with forms for a general verdict in certain cases where complex issues of fact must be decided in order to arrive at a verdict. The provision does not apply to personal injury or wrongful death negligence cases unless otherwise specifically authorized by law, cases where comparative negligence applies, or all parties agree. When answers to the interrogatories are inconsistent with the verdict, the court shall either order the jury to reconsider its answers and verdict or order a new trial.
Patron - Mims

P SB1118

Circuit court civil actions. Creates a single form of pleading for civil actions. Legal and equitable claims will remain distinct, and the situations where issues are heard by a jury are unchanged. The bill is scheduled to become effective January 1, 2006, and has been endorsed by the Judicial Council of Virginia.
Patron - Norment

P SB1123

Service of process. Allows a plaintiff, in circuit court cases, to ask the defendant for a waiver of service of process in lieu of official service and mandates that a defendant respond so as to avoid any unnecessary costs of service of process. The bill is modeled on Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Patron - Obenshain

P SB1158

Indemnity bonds. Allows an officer, if he has performed more than one levy for a single plaintiff, to accept a single indemnifying bond for those multiple levies in an amount not less than the aggregate sum of the penalty amounts of the bonds necessary to bond each levy individually.
Patron - Stolle

P SB1173

P SB1209

Civil action for shoplifting and employee theft. Conforms the civil recovery provisions for shoplifting with the criminal shoplifting provisions by (i) basing civil recovery on retail value of the goods rather than the merchant's actual wholesale cost and (ii) making the civil recovery provision applicable when an offender appropriates goods or cash to another. This bill is identical to HB 1616.
Patron - Stolle

P SB1274

Number of jurors constituting a panel. Allows a judge to direct that more than the previous maximum number of jurors be called to make up a panel from which a jury is selected in criminal and civil cases.
Patron - Mims

Failed

F HB1538

Termination of action; attorneys' fees and court costs. Provides that if a civil action is terminated in favor of the defendant, and the court finds that the action is frivolous, clearly vexatious, brought primarily for purposes of harassment, or otherwise brought in bad faith, it may assess against the plaintiff the court costs or reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the defendant in defending the action.
Patron - Frederick

F HB1544

Medical malpractice noneconomic damages. Establishes a $250,000 limitation on noneconomic damage awards (including attorneys' fees) in medical malpractice suits, i.e., pain and suffering awards. This provision also provides that, for the purposes of applying this limitation, future noneconomic damages will not be discounted to present value. Further, if separate awards are rendered for past and future noneconomic damages and the combined awards exceed $250,000, the future noneconomic damages will be reduced first. Juries will not be informed about the maximum award for noneconomic damages. "Noneconomic damages" includes physical and emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, and other related nonpecuniary losses. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2659.
Patron - Frederick

F HB1595

Debtor interrogatories; supplemental proceedings. Provides for supplemental proceedings where a judgment creditor seeks to take debtor interrogatories before the court of the county or city where the debtor resides, or in a county or city contiguous thereto, instead of before the court from which the fieri facias issued, or a court of a county or city contiguous thereto. The judgment creditor shall file in the second court an abstract of the judgment rendered, and shall pay to the second court the required filing fees. If the judgment is satisfied, the judgment creditor shall file a copy of any releases or certificates of satisfaction in the second court.
Patron - Ware, O.

F HB1617

Civil immunity; manufacturers and sellers of qualified food products. Immunizes manufacturers and sellers of qualified food products from claims arising from an injury, potential injury or death resulting from consumption of a food product and weight gain, obesity or any health condition related to weight gain or obesity. Manufacturers and sellers also are exempted from liability for injury to or the death of a voluntary user of a product, where the injury is caused by an open and obvious danger of the product. "Qualified food products" are those defined in § 201(f) of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321 (f)). Products having an "open and obvious danger" include tobacco products and firearms.
Patron - Janis

F HB1693

Medical malpractice noneconomic damages. Establishes a $250,000 limitation on noneconomic damage awards in medical malpractice suits. "Noneconomic damages" includes physical and emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, and other related nonpecuniary losses. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2659.
Patron - Purkey

F HB1694

Medical malpractice; limit on attorneys' fees. Provides that beginning with medical malpractice actions accruing on or after July 1, 2003, attorneys' fees shall be limited in accordance with the following fee schedule: 33 and one-third percent of the first $300,000 of the sum recovered; 25 percent of the next $300,000 recovered; 20 percent of the next $300,000 recovered; 15 percent of the next $300,000 recovered; 10 percent of damages of at least $2.5 million but less than $5 million; or 5 percent of damages of $5 million or more. The percentage limitations are applied to the sum recovered by the plaintiff through trial, settlement, or arbitration, less the expenses related to the action but including any liens for medical care or treatment. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2659.
Patron - Purkey

F HB1709

Patient information; prohibition on communication. Prohibits lawyers from obtaining, in connection with litigation, information on a patient from a practitioner's employers, partners, agents, servants, employees, co-employees, or others for whom, at law, the practitioner is or may be liable, or who, at law, are or may be liable for the practitioner's acts or omissions. Under current law, the prohibition applies only to the practitioner himself.
Patron - Kilgore

F HB1751

Civil case cover sheets. Requires the plaintiff/petitioner in a circuit court civil case to complete and file with the initial pleading a cover sheet. The form for the cover sheet is to be developed by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court and will include the name and the address of the plaintiff and the defendant, the type of case, and if the action is a medical malpractice action, the profession and specialty of the health care professional.
Patron - Janis

F HB1794

Medical malpractice; expressions inadmissible. Provides that a health care provider's expression of sympathy or general sense of benevolence to a patient or a patient's relative is not admissible as evidence of an admission (i) of liability or (ii) against interest in an action for wrongful death or medical malpractice. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2659.
Patron - Cox

F HB1900

Civil procedure; limitations of actions. Provides immunity for employers providing on-site day care.
Patron - Baskerville

F HB1904

F HB1907

Medical malpractice; mediation. Requires the clerk of the circuit court in which a motion for judgment in a medical malpractice action is filed to forward to the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, within 60 days of the filing, the motion for judgment and any responsive pleadings. Upon receipt, the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall provide the parties with information on mediation or alternative dispute resolution.
Patron - Baskerville

F HB2161

Physician immunity; eliminating immunity for failure to review and respond to report or result. Eliminates the current provisions immunizing physicians in most cases from civil liability for failure to review or respond to a report or result of a test or examination which the physician did not request or authorize.
Patron - Reese

F HB2254

Opinion testimony. Requires expert testimony to be based upon sufficient facts or data, and to result from reliable principles and methods applied reliably to the facts of the case.
Patron - Bell

F HB2375

Medical malpractice insurance; hospital practitioner requirements. Establishes a limit of $1 million per occurrence and $3 million in the aggregate per year on the amount of medical malpractice insurance that a hospital may require a health care provider to purchase as a condition of practicing at that hospital or medical facility.
Patron - Athey

F HB2542

Persons under disability; incarcerated persons. Provides that "person under a disability" shall not include an incarcerated person for purposes of executing a will, powers of attorney, deeds, or deeds of trust.
Patron - Jones, S.C.

F HB2561

Noneconomic damages. Limits noneconomic damages in tort actions to $100,000. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2659.
Patron - Cline

F HB2731

Civil immunity; small pox vaccines. Repeals the third enactment of Chapter 18 of the Acts of Assembly of 2003. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2669.
Patron - O'Bannon

F HB2802

Confidential communications. Provides that all written and oral communications between a victim and a domestic violence or sexual assault advocate, serving in the capacity of an advocate, or an interpreter for an advocate or a victim, shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure in any judicial or administrative proceeding without the written consent of the victim.
Patron - Moran

F HB2829

Habeas corpus; inadequacy of counsel. Provides that where a petitioner alleges inadequacy of counsel in his habeas petition, he is deemed to waive attorney-client privilege relative to such counsel. Counsel may, upon request of the court or any party to the habeas proceeding, reveal confidential information provided by the client or on behalf of the client during the course of counsel's professional relationship with the client.
Patron - Hurt

F HB2926

Civil immunity; manufacturers of firearms and ammunition. Immunizes manufacturers of firearms and ammunition from civil liability for damages resulting solely from the use of their products in the commission of a crime. Immunity does not attach where the products have been unlawfully distributed.
Patron - Black

F HJ575

Tort reform. Expresses the General Assembly's support of meaningful tort reform.
Patron - Cosgrove

F HJ631

Judicial system; pro se access. Requests the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to identify modifications to Virginia statutes and court rules to facilitate access to the judicial system by pro se litigants.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F SB855

Noneconomic damages. Limits noneconomic damages in all actions to $350,000.
Patron - Cuccinelli

F SB922

Civil immunity; nonprofit meal delivery program. Provides civil immunity for a nonprofit organization (and its officers, directors, employees, and volunteers) that administers a program that furnishes and delivers meals.
Patron - Blevins

F SB976

Medical malpractice. Requires the plaintiff to have an expert witness certify before service of process is made on the defendant, that the health care practitioner deviated from the standard of care and the deviation caused the injuries claimed. This bill has been incorporated into SB 1173.
Patron - O'Brien

F SB1082

Name change. Requires an adult petitioning the circuit court for a name change to present a valid government-issued photo identification to the court.
Patron - Ticer

F SB1284

Medical malpractice; certification. Requires plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases to obtain, prior to filing suit, an opinion that the defendant for whom service of process is requested deviated from the applicable standard of care and that such deviation caused injury to the plaintiff. This bill has been incorporated into SB 1173.
Patron - Saslaw

F SB1287

Injury to real property; exemplary damages. Allows the owner of real property to recover exemplary damages in an action to recover damages or enjoin conduct if the damage is done willfully or with careless disregard.
Patron - Puckett

F SB1300

Juries. Codifies the existing practice of appointing interpreters for deaf and hearing-impaired jurors and allowing their presence in the jury room during deliberations.
Patron - Mims

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2005>Civil Remedies and Procedure

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