Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: co-defendant absent from trial

The co-defendant in a civil trial who has been properly served with notice and fails to appear,

is what the law calls jointly and severally liable along with his co-defendant party for any judgment which is handed down by the court.

Translation: Each co-defendant is liable for up to the entire amount of the judgment but, of course, the plaintiff cannot collect twice from both. The plaintiff can, however, if circumstances warrant, collect the entire amount of the judgment from the one and absolutely nothing from the other. (The defendant who pays would then have the option of seeking contribution from the other.)

Re: co-defendant absent from trial

You've got to be kidding. If people could

get out of paying by just not showing up, then

nobody would ever show up. Genreally speaking

it's the other way around. You lose by not

showing up.

HOWEVER, WARNING: You are skipping over a

critically important step!

First, you have to see if the plaintiff has

successfully gotten official 'service' upon

each defendant.

NOTE that almost always a plaintiff will MAIL

a copy through the normal mail, which is NOT

official service. Receiving a lawsuit by mail

does NOT obligate you in any way.

Official service means that the Sheriff's deputy

put it in your hand or "posted" it on the door

(which can mean various things in reality.

If the plaintiff has failed to achieve official

"service" then you DO NOT want to show up,

because the plaintiff will lose automatically.

What the co-defendants need to do is go to the

courthouse several days before the court date,

and ask the clerk to see the court's file.

If the "service" part of the lawsuit is marked

"NOT FOUND" then you should not answer the

lawsuit. (Actually you might sit in the back

of the courtroom and listen. If they talk about

how the lawsuit is "not found" then do not say

anything. If the lawyer asks for "judgement"

then stand up and object.)

However, assuming that both defendants have been

properly served, then both defendants are on

the hook for the full amount, if the plaintiff

wins. That means that the plaintiff can take

the full amount of the money from either defendant

according to who is easiest to take the money from.

In that case, your best chance is to defeat the

plaintiff outright, and not let him win.

Of course one co-defendant can always sue the

other co-defendant to divide the cost between

them. What the plaintiff does is not the

end of the story.