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2024 SESSION

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24102436D
HOUSE BILL NO. 779 Offered January 10, 2024 Prefiled January 9, 2024 A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 8.01-262 and 64.2-454 of the Code of Virginia, relating to permissible venue; personal injury and wrongful death actions; appointment of administrator on behalf of estate of decedent. ---------- Patron-- Callsen ---------- Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 8.01-262 and 64.2-454 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 8.01-262. Category B or permissible venue.

In any actions to which this chapter applies except those actions enumerated in Category A where preferred venue is specified, one or more of the following counties or cities shall be permissible forums, such forums being sometimes referred to as "Category B" in this title:

1. Wherein the defendant resides or has his principal place of employment or, if the defendant is not an individual, wherein its principal office or principal place of business is located;

2. Wherein the defendant has a registered office, has appointed an agent to receive process, or such agent has been appointed by operation of the law; or, in case of withdrawal from the Commonwealth by such defendant, wherein venue herein was proper at the time of such withdrawal;

3. Provided there exists any practical nexus to the forum including, but not limited to, the location of fact witnesses, plaintiffs, or other evidence to the action, wherein the defendant regularly conducts substantial business activity, or in the case of withdrawal from the Commonwealth by such defendant, wherein venue herein was proper at the time of such withdrawal;

4. Wherein the cause of action, or any part thereof, arose;

5. In actions to recover or partition personal property, whether tangible or intangible, the county or city:

a. Wherein such property is physically located; or

b. Wherein the evidence of such property is located;

c. And if subdivisions a and b do not apply, wherein the plaintiff resides.

6. In actions against a fiduciary as defined in § 8.01-2 appointed under court authority, the county or city wherein such fiduciary qualified;

7. In actions for improper message transmission or misdelivery wherein the message was transmitted or delivered or wherein the message was accepted for delivery or was misdelivered;

8. In actions arising based on delivery of goods, wherein the goods were received;

9. If there is no other forum available in subdivisions 1 through 8 of this category, then the county or city where the defendant has property or debts owing to him subject to seizure by any civil process; or

10. Wherein any of the plaintiffs reside if (i) all of the defendants are unknown or are nonresidents of the Commonwealth or if (ii) there is no other forum available under any other provisions of § 8.01-261 or this section.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, in actions in which an administrator has been appointed pursuant to § 64.2-454, permissible venue shall only lie in a county or city in which venue would have been properly laid if the person for whom such appointment is made had survived.

§ 64.2-454. Appointment of administrator for prosecution of action for personal injury or wrongful death against or on behalf of estate of deceased resident or nonresident.

An administrator may be appointed in any case in which it is represented that either a civil action for personal injury or death by wrongful act, or both, arising within the Commonwealth is contemplated against or on behalf of the estate or the beneficiaries of the estate of a resident or nonresident of the Commonwealth who has died within or outside the Commonwealth if at least 60 days have elapsed since the decedent's death and an executor or administrator of the estate has not been appointed under § 64.2-500 or 64.2-502, solely for the purpose of prosecution or defense of any such actions, by the clerk of the a circuit court in the county or city in which jurisdiction and venue would have been properly laid for such actions if the person for whom the appointment is sought had survived. An administrator appointed pursuant to this section may prosecute actions for both personal injury and death by wrongful act.

If a fiduciary has been appointed in a foreign jurisdiction, the fiduciary may qualify as administrator. The appointment of a fiduciary in a foreign jurisdiction shall not preclude a resident or nonresident from qualifying as an administrator for the purposes of maintaining a wrongful death action pursuant to § 8.01-50 or a personal injury action in the Commonwealth.

A resident and nonresident may be appointed as coadministrators.