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2010 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice
Subcommittee Civil

Edwards (Chairman), Quayle, Lucas, Puller, Obenshain, Saslaw, Petersen

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Date of Meeting: February 4, 2010
Time and Place: 4:00 p.m., Senate Room A

S.B. 46

Patron: Stuart

Special education program for children with disabilities; recovery of attorney fees.  Authorizes a court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs to a prevailing party, who is the parent of a child with a disability, in a civil action he is allowed to bring before the court because he is aggrieved by earlier findings and a decision resolving a dispute as to program placements, individualized education programs, tuition eligibility and other matters.

S.B. 67

Patron: McEachin

Adverse possession; abolition. Abolishes adverse possession as a cause of action or a defense if arising on or after July 1, 2010.

S.B. 80

Patron: Howell

Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act.  Establishes a mechanism for resolving multistate jurisdictional disputes regarding adult guardianships and conservatorships. Procedures are provided for determining which jurisdiction is the "home state" having primary jurisdiction, transferring a guardianship or conservatorship to another state, registering orders, and addressing emergency situations. The Act has been adopted in 12 states and the District of Columbia.

S.B. 82

Patron: Howell

Health professions; practice of podiatry.  Clarifies that the practice of podiatry includes the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure or alleviation of physical conditions, diseases, pain, or infirmities of the human foot and ankle, including the medical, mechanical, and surgical treatment of the ailments of the human foot and ankle.

S.B. 156

Patron: Edwards

Uniform Arbitration Act; vacating arbitration award.  Clarifies that a party may seek to vacate an award made pursuant to an arbitration proceeding where there was no agreement to arbitrate and the party raised an objection to the arbitration, regardless of whether an arbitration agreement had previously been found to exist. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

S.B. 159

Patron: Edwards

Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA).  Establishes in the Code of Virginia the Uniform Act that was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2006. The UPOAA consists of default rules that can be modified if the principal desires. Powers of attorney will be durable unless drafted to expire upon a specified date or event. The UPOAA addresses creation and use, good faith reliance, limitations of agent's powers, refusal to recognize, judicial review, notification of resignation, and other matters. The UPOAA contains an optional statutory form.

S.B. 190

Patron: Northam

Publication of notice of judicial retirement.  Requires the Supreme Court or the Committee on District Courts to publish notice of a judge's intention to retire upon receipt of that notice instead of upon certification of the vacancy.

S.B. 204

Patron: Blevins

Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA). Establishes in the Code of Virginia the Uniform Act that was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2006. The UPOAA consists of default rules that can be modified if the principal desires. Powers of attorney will be durable unless drafted to expire upon a specified date or event. The UPOAA addresses creation and use, good faith reliance, limitations of agent's powers, refusal to recognize, judicial review, notification of resignation, and other matters. The UPOAA contains an optional statutory form that may be used by an agent to certify facts concerning a power of attorney.

S.B. 327

Patron: Stuart

Enjoyment of easement.  Provides that the owner of the servient estate shall not cause to be present any objects of personal property, debris, or refuse, either temporarily or permanently, upon the burdened land or within 25 feet thereof. Current law provides that the owner of the servient estate shall not engage in an activity or cause to be present any objects either upon the burdened land or immediately adjacent thereto that unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of the easement by the owner of the dominant estate.

S.B. 329

Patron: Stuart

Court fees. Increases the court fees in both district and circuit court from (i) $27 to $75 in a district court civil action and (ii) the current scale of $60-$160 to $500-$1,000 in civil actions in circuit court. The fee increases under this bill in district court are allocated to the sheriffs' departments, and the increases in circuit court are split between the sheriffs' (80%) and the clerks' (20%) offices to be used exclusively for achieving the current staffing standards of the two constitutional offices. The $10 fee for the Courts Technology Fund is removed from civil cases. The Fund still receives fees applicable to other filings in the circuit and appellate courts.

S.B. 356

Patron: Obenshain

Child visitation.  Provides that the court may order that a parent who has a documented history of alcohol abuse, as a condition of visitation, have an ignition interlock system installed on each vehicle that the parent drives with the child as a passenger.

S.B. 363

Patron: Blevins

Civil remedies; depositions as basis for motion of summary judgment or to strike evidence.  Allows depositions to be the basis for a motion for summary judgment or to strike evidence.

S.B. 366

Patron: Blevins

Offers of judgment; costs. Provides that a party defending a claim may serve upon an adverse party not less than 10 days before trial an offer to allow judgment to be taken against him on specified terms, including the costs then accrued. An offer of judgment may also be made by a party whose liability to another has been determined, but where the extent of his liability is to be determined in a subsequent proceeding. If the offer is accepted, the court shall enter the judgment. If the offer is not accepted, and the adverse party does not obtain a judgment more favorable than the offer, the adverse party shall pay all costs incurred from the time of the offer.

S.B. 391

Patron: McDougle

Toll facilities; civil penalties for violation.  Places limitations on the amount of civil penalties that can be imposed for failure to pay tolls. A civil penalty may not be imposed for a second or subsequent offense unless the person was found liable for a previous offense. Civil penalties are limited to $2,500 in a calendar day, and $10,000 in a calendar year, in one court.

S.B. 409

Patron: Vogel

Duties of the clerk of the circuit court.  Allows the court to order the immediate destruction, donation, or return of evidence where a defendant is found not guilty, and allows the clerk to do the same for cases concluded prior to July 1, 2008, without having to give specific notice, and requires the clerk to escheat all cash funds left over once forfeiture has concluded. The bill requires the clerk to keep his office open during convenient hours during those days on which that office is required to be open, and relieves the clerk of certifying local officers lists to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, by imposing that requirement on the locality itself, and of maintaining a list or book of local active volunteer fire fighters, by imposing that duty on the state Department of Fire Programs. The bill requires the clerk to record only those writings specifically required by law to be recorded. The bill also repeals several small monetary forfeitures imposed on the clerk for failure to (i) provide the Department of Corrections with copies of orders, (ii) record certificates of satisfaction as required, and (iii) perform any duty generally.

S.B. 423

Patron: Herring

Liability of certain health care practitioners.  Provides that no health care practitioner who renders at any site health care services, voluntarily and without compensation, to a patient of a clinic for the indigent and uninsured that is organized for the delivery of primary health care services as a federally qualified health center designated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, shall be liable for any civil damages for any act or omission resulting from the rendering of such services unless the act or omission was the result of his gross negligence or willful misconduct.

S.B. 427

Patron: Herring

Civil procedure; disclosure of insurance liability limits.  Allows the personal representative of the estate of a decedent who died as a result of a motor vehicle accident, or his attorney, to request the disclosure of the liability limits of an insurance policy prior to filing a civil action for wrongful death resulting from a motor vehicle accident. The party requesting this information shall provide the insurer with (i) the date of the accident, (ii) the name and last known address of the alleged tortfeasor, (iii) a copy of the accident report, if any, (iv) the claim number, if available, and (v) the decedent's medical death certificate, medical bills, if any, statutory beneficiaries' names and relationships, and, if a claim for pecuniary loss by one or more beneficiaries is anticipated, work and earnings history, if any. The bill also provides that disclosure of a policy's limits shall not constitute an admission that the alleged injury is subject to the policy.

S.B. 436

Patron: Edwards

Appeals of emergency protective and removal orders.  Provides that a party shall file in circuit court, which shall hear and determine, any petition for a preliminary protective/removal order if (i) the party previously filed in juvenile and domestic relations district court a petition for an emergency protective/removal order; (ii) the juvenile and domestic relations district court issued such order for the emergency protection/removal of a child; (iii) a timely appeal of the order was filed by the parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis of the child; (iv) the circuit court set a hearing on the appeal for a date certain or on a motions docket to be heard within five days of the entry of the emergency protective/removal order; and (v) the purpose for which the party seeks a petition for a preliminary protective/removal order is for the protection/removal of the same child. The juvenile and domestic relations district courts shall be divested of the right to enter any preliminary protective/removal order that involves the same child if all of the conditions set forth in clauses (i) through (v) exist.

S.B. 445

Patron: Quayle

Notice of lien on financial institutions.  Provides that any judgment creditor serving a notice of lien on a financial institution shall, within five business days of such service, mail to the judgment debtor at his last known address a copy of the notice of lien along with a notice of exemptions and claim for exemption form. The judgment creditor or attorney for the judgment creditor shall file a certification with the court affirming that he has mailed the judgment debtor these notices. If the judgment creditor fails to mail the notices, the financial institution shall release to the judgment debtor any funds otherwise subject to the lien. In the event that the judgment creditor fails to comply, he shall be liable to the judgment debtor for no more than $500 in damages, unless he proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure was not willful.

S.B. 467

Patron: Howell

Protective orders; coordination with other states.  Requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, on an annual basis, to consult with the appropriate judicial authorities of adjacent states, and allows the Executive Secretary to consult with the appropriate judicial authorities of any other state, concerning the forms used in connection with the issuance of protective orders under the laws of the Commonwealth and the other states. The Executive Secretary shall, to the extent feasible under the laws of the Commonwealth, coordinate the contents of such protective order forms with other states in order to facilitate the enforcement of foreign protective orders in the Commonwealth and the enforcement of Virginia protective orders in other states.

S.B. 468

Patron: Howell

Extension of protective orders.  Allows a petitioner who has obtained a protective order under § 16.1-279.1 (cases of family abuse) or § 19.2-152.10 (stalking) to obtain an extension of such order for a period of no more than one year if the respondent continues to pose a threat to the health or safety of the petitioner and the petitioner's family and household members. There is no limit on the number of extensions that may be requested.

S.B. 502

Patron: Smith

Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority.  Delays the reversion of title to real property from the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority to the Commonwealth, in the event that the Authority ceases to operate, until July 1, 2011.

S.B. 589

Patron: Marsden

Punishment and options for person convicted of nonpayment of child support.  Provides that a person convicted of DUI and issued a restricted license may be issued such a license for travel to and from appointments required as a participant in a court-ordered intensive case monitoring program for child support. The bill also provides that the Department of Motor Vehicles shall not renew a driver's license or terminate a license suspension imposed for nonpayment of child support until it has received from the Department of Social Services a certification that a person ordered by a juvenile and domestic relations district court into an intensive case monitoring program for child support for noncustodial parents continues successful participation in the program or has completed the program. The bill also provides for the option of home/electronic incarceration of a person convicted of nonsupport.

S.B. 638

Patron: McEachin

Civil procedure; disclosure of insurance liability limits. Allows an attorney of the personal representative of a deceased person to request the disclosure of the liability limits of an insurance policy prior to filing a civil action for wrongful death resulting from a motor vehicle accident. The party requesting this information shall provide the insurer with (i) the date of the accident, (ii) the name and last-known address of the alleged tortfeasor, (iii) a copy of the accident report, if any, (iv) the claim number, if available, and (v) the deceased person's medical records, medical bills, and death certificate. The insurer has to disclose the liability limits if death occurred. The bill also provides that disclosure of a policy's limits shall not constitute an admission that the alleged wrongful death is subject to the policy.

S.B. 651

Patron: Quayle

Courts not of record; jurisdiction of small claims court.  Increases from $5,000 to $10,000 the ceiling of the jurisdictional amount of a small claims court. The maximum amount that may be claimed in small claims court shall be adjusted July 1, 2015, and on July 1 every five years thereafter, in an amount equal to the cumulative annual increases for that five-year period in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

S.B. 719

Patron: Norment

Appeals from courts not of record in civil cases.  Provides that the minimum amount in controversy in a civil case for which there shall be an appeal of right to a court of record shall be annually adjusted by a percentage equal to the annual rate of inflation, as calculated by referring to the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Currently, there shall be an appeal of right to a court of record from any order entered or judgment rendered in a court not of record in a civil case in which the matter in controversy is of greater value than $50.

S.B. 721

Patron: Marsden

Attorney-issued summons; protective orders. Eliminates the prohibition on attorney-issued summonses to compel attendance of witnesses in civil proceedings relating to issuance of Protective Orders pursuant to Article 4 (§ 16.1-246 et seq.), and authorizes the sheriff to serve an attorney-issued summons in less than five business days prior to required attendance.