RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - The Virginia House of Delegates advanced a bill Monday to remove the state's status as one of two that prohibit class action state claims.
"This bill will cause Virginia to leave an exclusive club of two," Delegate Marcus Simon, a Democrat and a lawyer, who introduced the legislation, said on the floor of the House of Delegates. "We'll leave Mississippi as the only state that doesn't have that as a procedure available for folks to combine their claims in state court and pursue remedies when they've been ripped off by larger companies or when they've suffered a wrong under the Consumer Protection Act or when they've got a cause of actions that's just too difficult for them to pursue by themselves without the benefit of joining with other plaintiffs in a class action suit."
The bill applies to all civil actions and claims for damages under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Proponents of the bill, including the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, argue the move is needed to provide low-income consumers relief on claims they can't afford to bring individually.
"It is an issue of access to justice," attorney Kristi Kelly said in a committee hearing. "It is just allowing this procedure to be put in place so that consumers and individuals who are being victimized by bad actors can get redressed in one fell swoop."
Simon and Scott Surovell, a fellow Democrat and lawyer who introduced the Senate version of the bill, further argue the measure will help alleviate ever-increasing dockets for local judges. Proponents offered numerous examples of how the lack of class action claims has burdened judges, including when Volkswagen agreed in 2015 to pay $14.7 billion to settle claims it cheated on emissions standards. While consumers in other states joined their claims together, Virginia consumers filed hundreds of individual claims.
"Our judges had to litigate the same issue over and over and over again every single day for more than a year," Kelly said. "That caused numerous problems with other matters getting resolved. Divorces were delayed, and other matters that were before the court, because they were busy doing the same case, the same motion, over and over and over for a different individual, because we did not have this procedural mechanism."
Other examples provided included tenant lawsuits seeking to hold slumlords accountable. The Supreme Court of Virginia was forced to appoint a special judge in Newport News to oversee 94 individual tenants' claims against their landlord, whose lack of maintenance led a judge to condemn the high-rise apartment complex.
"We know just how scarce judicial resources are and how scarce legal resources are," Joanna Darcus of the Virginia Poverty Law Center said. "So, this is a really efficient mechanism for actually making sure that there's access to justice and that businesses that follow Virginia law, who don't rip people off, are not at a disadvantage when there are businesses that get away with doing just that."
Representatives from the health care, vehicle manufacturing and banking industries spoke in opposition to the measure. Currently, Virginians can only pursue class action relief against Virginia businesses in federal court.
"The Virginia business community has long viewed the absence of class action lawsuits as a badge of honor and a real positive for our legal climate," Edward Mullen of Seven Hills Strategy Group, lobbying on behalf of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said in a committee hearing. "We've always felt that the relative advantage to individual class members versus the burden on the businesses doesn't justify the policy shift."
Opponents particularly take issue with another unique wrinkle in Virginia's legal proceedings. Virginia is the only state in the nation that doesn't allow for summary judgment based on deposition testimony for most claims. Virginia recently passed legislation enabling summary judgment during the deposition stage for claims between businesses over $50,000.
"When you, as a company, are defending yourself in a piece of civil litigation in this state, you have to wait until much further in the process to kick out bad claims that create expense and drive up settlement values," Mullen said.
Democrats have attempted to pass legislation allowing state class action claims for a decade. The bill passed the legislature in 2024, only to be vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
"Commerce is based on a legal environment that maintains fairness," Youngkin said at the time. "Excessive tort liabilities and the threat of litigation expenses can force businesses to close their doors, imperiling economic growth."
Opponents, who see the writing on the wall as Democrats now control the legislature and the governor's mansion, hope the final bill mirrors the rules governing federal class-action suits.
The bill has an effective date of Jan. 1, 2027, but plaintiffs can pursue claims for conduct that occurred before that date, as long as they comply with the applicable statute of limitations. Simon will need to pass the bill in the House of Delegates once more before the Senate has its say.
Source: Courthouse News Service
