Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: Filing a warrant in debt versus a Virginia LLC with a Maryland personal guar

You name both the Maryland owner as well as the LLC, as in your first proposed designation

of defendants.

Re: Filing a warrant in debt versus a Virginia LLC with a Maryland personal guar

Sue the LLC, having its registered agent served. In the same suit sue the individual guarantor personally, and have the Secretary of the Commonweath served as that individual's statutory registered agent, under the Virginia long arm statute. Do this in the Court in which the real estate is located. Hopefully, the Clerk of the Court will explain to you how all this is done.

Once you have obtained a judgment, and it becomes final, you can have it domesticated in Maryland and enforce it there.

Re: Filing a warrant in debt versus a Virginia LLC with a Maryland personal guar

The guarantor is subject to suit in VA for guaranteeing a VA lease (as well as probably for working in VA). So you can sue both. Name them as XYZ, LLC and John Doe as separate defendants. Note that if this is a Landlord/Tenant matter and the tenant is still in the space, you can file an Unlawful Detainer, rather than a Warrant in Debt, to get the tenant evicted and recover a money judgment. Note that the jurisdiction of the General District Court is limited to $15,000 for money-only cases, but unlimited in cases of unlawful detainer.

We regularly handle commercial Landlord/Tenant matters in Fairfax and other Northern VA jurisdictions, so feel free to contact me if you decide that you need legal assistance on this.