Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia
Are both partners in a married couple considered the Plaintiff in a Warrant in D
A contractor recently accepted over $3k from my husband and I for trees that he never delivered. There is currently a Construction Fraud case against him as a result. We also filed a Warrant in Debt in civil court. When I filed the Warrant in Debt, I only put my name as the Plaintiff, although the money did come from our joint account. I foolishly thought this guy would pay us back when he realized we were serious. Now that we have to go to court, I would really like my husband to be the one to present our case, because I have a huge phobia where public speaking in concerned. We do not have a lawyer because we do not want to incur more debt as a result of this. This guy already has about 20 unpaid judgments against him, so we will probably never get our money back through the civil case, at this point, it's just a matter of principle. So, my question is, although my husband is not named as a plaintiff on the Warrant in Debt, is he still considered the co-plaintiff because we are married and it was OUR money that this contractor took? If the answer is yes, could you please provide a legal reference we could use to support this if anyone objects? Thank you so much!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Are both partners in a married couple considered the Plaintiff in a Warrant
Your husband is NOT a plaintiff simply because you are married or because you paid money out of a joint account. That makes no difference.
However, you can file a motion asking to AMEND the Warrant in Debt, adding your husband as a second plaintiff. Have your husband sign it along with you. Send it to both the court and
the other side.
Also, you can always bring your husband as a witness. You can get around your concern about
public speaking by simply having your husband
sit on the stand as a witness, and ask him
what happened.
Make sure you clearly specify how you calculate
what you say you have lost. This is often the
biggest problem, proving the amount of your
losses. If you have only an estimate from
someone offering to make repairs this is an
"opinion" and you would need to bring this
contractor as an expert witness to establish
that the amount of money you claim is actually
what it would cost to make repairs.
On the other hand, if you already spent the money
you can testify that you actually spent this
money for repairs.
Re: Are both partners in a married couple considered the Plaintiff in a Warrant
Your husband is not considered a plaintiff merely because you are listed on the warrant as a plaintiff and he is married to you. You can amend the warrant by adding his name as a plaintiff and, if necessary, reserving the papers on the defendant. (One of the court clerks should be able to advise you on whether you will need to reserve the papers.)
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