The Virginia Circuit Courts are the state trial courts of general jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Circuit Courts have jurisdiction to hear civil and criminal cases. For civil cases, the courts have authority to try cases with an amount in controversy of more than $4,500 and have exclusive original jurisdiction over claims for more than $25,000. In criminal matters, the Circuit Courts are the trial courts for all felony charges and for misdemeanors originally charged there. The Circuit Courts also have appellate jurisdiction for any case from the Virginia General District Courts (the trial courts of limited jurisdiction in Virginia) claiming more than $50, which are tried de novo in the Circuit Courts.
The state has 120 courts divided among 31 judicial circuits. Judges of the Virginia Circuit Courts are appointed by the legislature, and serve an eight-year term, after which they may be reappointed. The only mandatory qualification for appointment as a Circuit Court Judge is having been admitted to the Virginia State Bar for at least five years. Each Circuit Court has at least one judge, and possibly more, although trials are before a single judge.
Jurisdiction and venue The Circuit Courts are courts of general jurisdiction, meaning that they can hear all manner of civil and criminal matters, with limited exceptions. The original jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts over civil matters extends only to those matters valued at over $4,500. For actions alleging a lower amount in controversy, jurisdiction lies with the Virginia General District Court (GDC). However, the Circuit Courts can hear appeals from the GDC for matters valued over $50. Such appeals are heard de novo. The Circuit Courts do not, however, have jurisdiction over rate cases or workers' compensation cases. The former are committed to the jurisdiction of the State Corporation Commission, the latter by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. The Circuit Courts have exclusive original jurisdiction in domestic relations matters (such as divorce, annulment, and child custody), and over the probate of wills.Va. Code. Ann. §64.1–75.
Personal jurisdiction The GDC must also be able to exercise personal jurisdiction over the defendant, which may be premised on the defendant's physical presence in the jurisdiction, or on the occurrence of some element of the cause of action in the jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction is predicated on Virginia's long-arm statute, which generally permits Virginia courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over a party that resides in Virginia, or transacts substantial business in Virginia, or who caused an actionable injury in Virginia. With respect to domestic relations matters, personal jurisdiction attaches to a person who bears or fathers a child in Virginia. For purposes of A party may waive a lack of personal jurisdiction, but may also appear in court to contest personal jurisdiction without thereby waiving the issue.
Venue
In terms of venue, where personal jurisdiction lies in multiple districts, the appropriate venue for the case to be heard is set forth by Virginia statutes, which divides possible venues as "Category A" (preferred) and "Category B" (permissible), and requires that Category B venue may only be used where no Category A venue is available. For example, in a dispute over the ownership of land, Category A venue lies where the land is located. Where the dispute involves a request for injunctive relief, venue lies in the place where the activity to be enjoined is occurring or is anticipated to occur.
Category B venue is much more expansive. It generally lies where the defendant resides or has their principal place of employment, or has a registered office or registered agent, or where some part of the action arose.Va. Code. Ann. §8.01-261, −262. It also lies in any place where the cause of action, or a part thereof, arose. Various other considerations arise where there are multiple parties, or out of state parties.
Virginia Circuit Court civil procedure
Initiating litigation
Litigation is initiated by the filing of a complaint, which is then served on the defendant with a summons, pursuant to the rules governing service of process in Virginia.
General rules of pleading Virginia requires "fact pleading," meaning that the pleadings must set forth all of the facts alleged by the plaintiff upon which the cause of action is based, and these facts must "inform the opposing party as to the true nature of the claim." The facts must be set forth in numbered paragraphs, although a party asserting negligence need not specify which negligent conduct is alleged to have caused the injury. It is not necessary to allege jurisdiction or venue, although it is necessary to specify the relief sought in a "prayer for relief," and within the prayer to specify the dollar amount sought in damages in an ad damnum clause. A prayer for punitive damages must be identified in a separate paragraph. Documents (such as a contract alleged to have been breached) may be annexed to the pleadings, and are thereby incorporated into them. If a document that should be attached to the pleadings is omitted, the defendant can file a "motion craving oyer", which requests the annexation of that document. If granted, the document will be attached to, and will become part of, the complaint itself.
An attorney filing documents with the court, including pleadings, must sign the documents. The attorney thereby certifies that he has read them, that they are grounded in fact or law as determined by a good-faith investigation, and that they are not being filed for the purposes of harassment or delay. An attorney who violates these rules can be held liable for the costs and attorney's fees incurred by the other party in responding to the document. A document that is not signed by the attorney may be stricken. Where a party is not represented by counsel, the party must sign the documents himself, and thereby make the foregoing certifications.
Alternative pleading is permitted, so a party may plead inconsistent facts as to different parties, and leave it to the jury to determine which proposed set of facts were the true facts of the case, so long as all causes of action arise from the same transaction or occurrence. If an unrelated claim is joined, however, this claim will be stricken as a misjoinder.
Amendments to the pleadings Virginia pleading practice differs from that of federal courts and many other states in that it offers no amendments to the pleadings as of right. If a plaintiff files an amended complaint, and the defendant responds to that pleading, both the filing and the response are a legal nullity. A party must instead seek and receive leave to amend before any amended pleading will be accepted, even if that amended pleading is filed before any response to the initial pleading has been received. However, Virginia courts are generally liberal in allowing parties to amend, absent undue delay or prejudice to a party.
Responding to the complaint Once service has been effected, the defendant has 21 days to file a responsive pleading. The pleading may simply be an answer, or the defendant may file a demurrer, a motion to dismiss, an objection to venue, a motion for a bill of particulars, or a statement of the defendant's grounds of defense. If the defendant objects to personal jurisdiction, the defendant must make a special appearance to assert either that the court lacks personal jurisdiction, or that service of process was never made. Such a motion can not be joined with any other motion. An objection based on service that was made, but was made in a faulty manner, is called a motion to quash process, and can be filed in conjunction with a pleading responsive to the merits of the case. A defendant's objections to venue must state not only why the venue chosen is improper, but must also indicate where proper venue would lie (although a court maintains the power to transfer even if the objection to venue is defective). The defendant may also file a counterclaim against the plaintiff, a cross-claim against any co-defendant, or an impleader against a third party who the defendant feels should be brought in as a co-defendant. However, there is no such thing as a compulsory counterclaim in Virginia; a cause of action that a defendant has against the plaintiff may be brought as a counterclaim, or may be brought in an entirely separate case. A third party may also seek to enter the case by filing an intervention.
The demurrer A demurrer challenges the sufficiency of a claim for affirmative relief, and can address misjoined claims, lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and most importantly a failure to state a cause of action through a failure to allege some fact which is necessary for the claim to prevail. New facts may not be raised in a demurrer, so if the demurrer relates to a term in a contract which was not annexed to the original complaint, the defendant must first compel annexation of the contract through a motion craving oyer, and may file the demurrer once that annexation has occurred. A demurrer may be filed before or at the same time as an answer is filed, but not afterward, except with the permission of the court. If the demurrer is sustained, it is usually done so without prejudice and giving the plaintiff a set time to respond by filing an amended complaint which cures the defects of the original complaint.
Special pleas Affirmative defenses asserted in Virginia are called "special pleas". A special plea alleges additional facts which would obviate the case, such as the passage of a statute of limitations, failure of a contract to meet the statute of frauds, or res judicata as to the action.
The defendant may also raise equitable defenses such as failure of consideration or unconscionability, which operate to diminish the value of the plaintiff's claim. This is referred to as "common law recoupment". By statute, Virginia has established that such defenses can be raised in response to a contractual damages claim, and that the defendant may even recover damages in excess of the plaintiff's claim. Under the statute, however, the court lacks the power to order reform or rescission of the contract.
The answer The defendant may simply answer the claims raised by the plaintiff in a pleading which specifically responds to each of the plaintiff's allegations in corresponding numbered paragraphs.
Certain matters, when raised as a defense, must be sworn to by the defendant. These include claims that handwriting is not genuine, that an agency, partnership, or corporate relationship does not exist, or that the defendant does not own or operate property or an instrumentality at issue in the claim. Furthermore, in contract claims, the plaintiff may file an affidavit with the claim averring the amount of damages claimed, that the amount is justly due, and specifying a date from which interest should accrue. The defendant must then plead under oath that the plaintiff is not entitled to the damages sought, and if the plaintiff objects to the defendants failure to make such a plea within seven days, the objection will result in summary judgment for the plaintiff.
The plaintiff need not respond to anything in the answer, as it is presumed that all allegations in the answer are denied. The only exception is where the defendant demands a response to new matters raised in the answer.
Non-trial resolutions
Nonsuit