                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

JOINDER OF ACTION OF TORT TO INFANT WITH ACTION FOR RECOVERY OF EXPENSES
INCURRED THEREBY AND CLAIM FOR RECOVERY OF EXPENSES BY INFANT (§ 8.01-36)

A. Where there is pending any action by an infant plaintiff against a
tort-feasor for a personal injury, where the cause of action accrued prior to
July 1, 2013, any parent or guardian of such infant, who is entitled to recover
from the same tort-feasor the expenses of curing or attempting to cure such
infant from the result of such personal injury, may bring an action against such
tort-feasor for such expenses, in the same court where such infant&#8217;s case
is pending, either in the action filed in behalf of the infant or in a separate
action. If the claim for expenses be by separate action, upon motion of any
party to either case, made to the court at least one week before the trial, both
cases shall be tried together at the same time as parts of the same transaction.
But separate verdicts when there is a jury trial shall be rendered, and the
judgment shall distinctly separate the decision and judgment in the separate
causes of action.
			In the event of the cases being carried to the Court of Appeals, which may be
done if there be the jurisdictional amount in either case, they shall both be
carried together as one case and record, but the Court of Appeals shall clearly
specify the decision in each case, separating them in the decision to the extent
necessary to do justice among the parties. If an appeal is taken from the
judgment of the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court, in matters in which it
grants the petition for appeal, shall clearly specify the decision in each case,
separating them in the decision to the extent necessary to do justice among the
parties.

B. For causes of action that accrue on or after July 1, 2013, the past and
future expenses of curing or attempting to cure an infant of personal injuries
proximately caused by a tort-feasor are damages recoverable by an infant in a
cause of action against the tort-feasor and, if applicable to the infant&#8217;s
cause of action, are subject to the limitation on damages in &#xA7; 8.01-581.15.
Any parent or guardian of such infant who has paid for or is personally
obligated to pay for past or future expenses to cure or attempt to cure the
infant shall have a lien and right of reimbursement against any recovery by the
infant up to the amount the parent or guardian has actually paid or is
personally obligated to pay. The right to reimbursement of any parent or
guardian shall accrue upon the first tender of funds of any recovery from a
tort-feasor to the infant. Court approval of the infant settlement shall release
party defendants from all claims for past or future expenses of curing or
attempting to cure the infant.
			Nothing in this section shall relieve a parent of the obligation to pay for
the medical expenses of curing or attempting to cure the infant as such
obligation exists under current law.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 8-629; 1954, c. 333; 1973, c. 277; 2013, cc. 551, 689;
2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 489.