Civil Subcommittee

Monday, February 23, 2026·1h 38m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Civil Subcommittee advanced four bills — including a contested cell phone data preservation bill (5-4), an undue influence trust bill (6-3), an eminent domain process bill (9-0), and a healthcare provider shield bill (7-2) — while carrying over a business litigation docket bill under Rule 22 amid opposition from the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.

Key Actions

·SB 369 – Business Litigation Designation BillPassed

+ 5 more actions

Controversies

SB 369 – Whether the business litigation designation bill benefits only businesses at the expense of other litigants

Elliot Buckner (VTLA) argued the bill 'excludes a lot of complex cases, like some complex personal injury cases' and 'medical malpractice cases can be extraordinarily complex,' and that 'there is nothing in there that says it's going to be assigned to judges with specific knowledge in these certain areas.' Senator Carr Foy did not directly rebut these points on the record.

+ 4 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“While this would provide express lanes for businesses suing businesses, it's going to do so at the expense of creating a traffic jam for the other litigants, including the individuals who are there who may be as imperiled with their litigation as the business is with theirs.”
Elliot Buckner, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association — Buckner was testifying in opposition to SB 369, which would allow business litigants in cases over $1,000,000 to request a specialized judge be assigned to their jurisdiction.

+ 3 more quotes

Votes

SB 540 – Report with substitute (trusts only, as amended)Passed

SB 779 – ReportPassed

Cell phone data preservation bill – Report as amended with referral to AppropriationsPassed

Shield/wraparound bill (Senator Perry's bill) – Report with referral to AppropriationsPassed

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TranscriptPreview

Good afternoon. Go ahead and start this meeting of the court civil sub, hopefully our second to last, if we're lucky. Members will indicate their presence on the electronic voting board. All right, the clerk will close the roll. A quorum is present. Senator Carol Foy, you are first on the docket. You're the only one here. All right, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the subcommittee, I have Senate Bill 369. It's called the business complex and Business litigation docket. However, this bill has been heavily amended. It is no longer a docket, but it's actually a case designation where business litigants can file on a court form asking that an active specialized judge sit in their jurisdiction to preside over a case with a mountain controversy over a million dollars. This is a Chamber of Commerce top priority. It's a part of the blueprint and the office of the executive Secretary, I believe, so she will be here and available to answer any questions and that they can absorb all the costs and that they can execute this. Gotcha. So this is. It started out identical to Senate delegate Willett's bill, which we have carried over to next…

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