TITLE 8.01. CIVIL REMEDIES AND PROCEDURE.

§ 8.01-6 amended.
Relation back; addition of agent. Authorizes amending a pleading to change the party against whom a claim is asserted so long as either the party or his agent had notice of the institution of the action within the limitations period. Under current law, amendments are permitted only where the party had notice of the institution of the action. Current law authorizing amendments to pleadings based on confusion in trade names contains the "agent" reference in that statute's requirements for actual notice of a claim. HB 705; CH. 141/SB 118; CH. 326.

§ 8.01-15.2 added.
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Establishes civil law protections for servicemembers, consistent with federal law. Blocks entry of default judgment absent an affidavit stating whether the defendant is in military service, or that the plaintiff does not know if he is in such service. Authorizes setting aside default judgments against servicemembers as provided by federal law. HB 1379; CH. 381.

§ 8.01-27.3 added.
Civil recovery; health care provider professional services. Authorizes a health care provider, if an insured or enrollee of an accident and sickness insurance policy, health services plan or health maintenance organization fails to remit insurance payments he has received for health care rendered, to institute a civil action to recover the lesser of $250 or three times the amount of the payment, together with the amount of the payment and any sanctions imposed pursuant to § 8.01-271.1. Action may be instituted only after the health care provider has invoiced the insured or enrollee for the services, and 30 days after the insured's or enrollee's receipt of the insurance payments. HB 565; CH. 909.

§§ 8.01-27.3, 8.01-226.8, and 8.01-226.9. See § 18.2-46.1; HB 1060.

§ 18.2-127 amended; § 8.01-44.6 added.
Damage to cemetery property. Provides that a cemetery company owner or operator may bring an action to recover damages, including labor costs and reasonable attorneys' fees, for the willful or malicious destruction of cemetery property, regardless of whether the damaged property is owned by the cemetery. A restitution requirement is added to the criminal statute. SB 494; CH. 203.

§ 8.01-129 amended.
Appeals from decisions of general district court. Permits issuance of a writ of execution immediately upon entry of judgment for possession in cases of judgment of default arising out of a trustee's deed following foreclosure. Under current law, writs of execution may not issue until expiration of the 10-day period for appeal, except in cases of judgment of default for nonpayment of rent. This bill extends that exception to those judgments of default arising out of a trustee's deed following foreclosure. HB 46; CH. 343.

§ 8.01-184.1 added.
Imposition of sales and use tax; declaratory judgment. Grants circuit courts original jurisdiction over civil actions where a business organized under Virginia law or qualified to do business in Virginia seeks a declaratory judgment that the business is not obligated to collect and remit sales and use taxes to another state. HB 1463; CH. 647/SB 668; CH. 609.

§§ 8.01-195.10, 8.01-195.11, and 8.01-195.12 added.
Wrongful incarceration for a felony conviction. Provides guidelines for the compensation of persons wrongfully incarcerated. Under the guidelines a wrongfully incarcerated person may receive an amount equal to 90 percent of the Virginia per capita personal income for each year of incarceration up to 20 years. The compensation shall be paid as an initial lump sum equal to 20 percent of the award with the remaining 80 percent of the principal to be used to purchase an annuity to provide equal monthly payments to such person for a period certain of 25 years. The bill also provides for (i) a $15,000 transition assistance grant for a wrongfully incarcerated person upon his release from prison to be paid from the Criminal Fund, which amount shall be deducted from any award received and (ii) reimbursement of up to $10,000 for tuition for career and technical training within the Virginia Community College System contingent upon successful completion of the training. The bill specifically provides that the payment and receipt of any compensation for wrongful incarceration shall be contingent upon the General Assembly appropriating funds for that purpose. HB 638; CH. 840/SB 271; CH. 818.

§ 8.01-216.3 amended.
Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act. Provides that the false claims provisions of the Act do not apply to claims, records or statements relating to state or local taxes. Current law exempts only income taxes. SB 343; CH. 589.

§ 8.01-226.8 added.
Civil immunity; litter pick up by probationers and persons on community service. Provides civil immunity for probation officers; court personnel; county, city and town personnel; any other public officials; and private volunteers who participate in a program in which persons on community service or persons on probation are ordered as a condition of probation or community service to pick up litter along a section of public roadway or waterway. The immunity protects the specified persons from liability for injury to the persons on probation or community service, in the absence of willful misconduct. The bill provides that it shall not be interpreted to grant any immunity to any driver transporting the probationers or persons on community service, or any motorist, who, by his negligence, may injure such probationer or person on community service. HB 534; CH. 434/SB 72; CH. 387.

§ 8.01-262 amended.
Venue; civil actions. Provides that Category B venue includes counties or cities in which the defendant regularly conducts substantial business activity. Under current law, Category B venue includes counties or cities in which the defendant regularly conducts affairs or business activity. HB 1127; CH. 979.

§ 8.01-293. See § 16.1-241; SB 335.

§ 8.01-293. See § 15.2-1609.3; SB 619.

§ 8.01-294 amended.
Civil remedies; service of process. Clarifies that failure to make return of service of process by anyone authorized to serve process within the time specified shall not invalidate any service of process or any judgment based thereon. Current law appears to apply only to sheriffs. HB 980; CH. 627.

§ 8.01-341.1 amended.
Jury service of certain legislative employees. Adds certain legislative employees to the list of persons who are exempt from jury service upon request. The provision applies only to the time period from 60 days before a regular General Assembly session to 30 days after adjournment, and seven days before and after a reconvened or special session. The bill applies to employees of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Delegates, the Office of the Clerk of the Senate, the Division of Legislative Services, and the Division of Legislative Automated Systems. SB 38; CH. 106.

§ 8.01-356 amended.
Civil remedies; failure of juror to appear. Increases the monetary range established in 1977 for fining a juror who fails to appear in court from "not less than $25 nor more than $100" to "not less than $50 nor more than $200." SB 513; CH. 116.

§ 8.01-380 amended.
Civil procedure; nonsuits. Provides that if notice to take a nonsuit of right is given to the opposing party within seven days of trial the court may assess against the nonsuiting party reasonable witness fees and travel costs of expert witnesses scheduled to appear at trial, which are incurred by the opposing party solely by reason of the failure to give notice at least seven days prior to trial. Under current law, the applicable timeframe is five days. HB 624; CH. 362.

§ 8.01-382. See § 6.1-330.53; HB 1460.

§§ 8.01-407, 8.01-413, 16.1-89, and 16.1-265 amended.
Attorney-issued subpoenas. Eliminates the five-days-before- trial (or the date of return) restriction on attorney-issued subpoenas and makes them subject to the same time frame as all other subpoenas. The attorney-issued subpoenas will be subject to the general provision that a judge may choose not to enforce a subpoena that is issued within five days. A sheriff is not required to serve an attorney-issued subpoena that is issued within five days. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference. SB 495; CH. 335.

§ 8.01-413 amended.
Patient health records. Provides that a patient's executor or administrator also may obtain copies of a patient's health care records where the records are requested in anticipation of litigation or in the course of litigation. Currently only a patient, his attorney, or an authorized insurer may obtain copies of the patient's health care records. HB 733; CH. 742.

§ 8.01-413. See § 32.1-127.1:03; HB 877.

§ 8.01-413. See § 32.1-127.1:03; SB 337.

§ 8.01-417 amended.
Copies of subpoenaed documents to be provided to other parties. Requires any party to a civil proceeding who subpoenas documents concerning another party to provide true and full copies of the documents to the other party or his attorney, if requested, provided the requesting party pays reasonable copying or reproduction costs. The requirement does not apply where the subpoenaed documents are returnable to and maintained by the clerk of court in which the proceeding is pending. HB 49; CH. 345.

§ 8.01-499. See § 17.1-272; HB 1265/SB 620.

§ 8.01-513 amended.
Service of process on corporation. Defines the term "managing employee" for the purposes of service of process in garnishment proceedings as an employee charged by the corporation with the control of operations and employee supervision at a business location of the corporation where process is to be served. HB 979; CH. 231.

§ 8.01-581.17 amended.
Medical malpractice peer review entities; privileged communications. Extends the privileges of confidential communications to quality assurance or peer review committees established under (i) a national or state peer review entity, (ii) a national or state accreditation entity, (iii) a national professional association of health care providers or Virginia chapter of a national professional association of health care providers, (iv) an MCHIP licensee and (v) a statewide or local association representing health care providers licensed in the Commonwealth. Oral communications made to such a committee regarding a specific medical incident involving patient care are privileged only to the extent that they are made more than 24 hours after the occurrence of the medical incident. SB 385; CH. 250.

§ 8.01-676.1 amended.
Appeal bonds. Eliminates the current $25 million ceiling on an appeal bond securing noncompensatory damages and establishes in its place a $25 million ceiling on an appeal bond securing all damages awarded the appellee. Provides that where the appellee shows dissipation of assets by the appellant, the court may require the appellant and its affiliates to post a bond or irrevocable letter of credit in an amount up to the full amount of judgment. The bill contains a clause specifying that its provisions are procedural and not substantive in nature. HB 430; CH. 356/SB 172; CH. 328.