Last week the Courts of Justice Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates met to discuss House Bill 1138 (2012), which dealt with summary judgment laws.  Virginia is the only state in the nation that does not allow motions for summary judgment to be based on deposition testimony.

We would like to thank all of our members who attended this meeting to show support for such an important issue.  For those who were not able to attend, the room was packed with a strong showing of support for changing the summary judgment statute.

The Virginia Chamber, representatives from large and small Virginia businesses, local chambers, the Governor’s office, the Attorney General’s office, and nearly a dozen trade associations spoke in favor of summary judgment reform.  The broad coalition of supporters comprised roughly two-thirds of those in attendance.

Because this is such a significant issue, this committee meeting was only the first step in accomplishing meaningful reform.  The opposition is largely confined to the trial lawyers, and they are very influential.  While we were joined in our support by a variety of diverse organizations and businesses, we must continue our push for summary judgment reform as we head into the 2013 General Assembly session.

We all know that changing the status quo with regard to civil justice measures is challenging.  The only way this measure will pass is if the business community stays united and aggressively pushes for meaningful changes.  We will keep you updated on developments in the coming months.