Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

The Court will assign the hearing to the same judge even if you don't want it. It is a fairly automatic thing for the same judge to hear any further proceedings in the same case.

To schedule a hearing, you will need to file a PRAECIPE which requests the Clerk to place your motion on the docket for a paritcular time and date. This is separate from your motion.

In that PRAECIPE requesting that the docket be scheduled, you shoudl tell teh Clerk that this involves a previous proceeding heard by Judge X and you request that the hearing be also scheduled before the same judge.

Upon learning that the case was previously before Judge X, they will almost always place the case before the same judge again.

Before you choose a date, make sure you ask the Clerk (or perhaps Judges' chambers) which dates are AVAILABLE for that particular judge. Make sure you tell them it is a civil issue. They have a separate schedule for criminal cases and civil cases.

Make sure you ask a lot of questions about the process in your County for scheduling the hearing properly. Each County can have a different procedure.

I think you are overly optimistic and should make sure that you are very, very prepared. You should get a lot of advice and help and study up. The kind of situation you are talking about is copmlicated and involves a lot of difficulties in both substance and procedures.

If the first hearing was in J&DR;Court and you have appealed that Order, the J&DR;Court has lost jurisdiction. In order to get back into the J&DR;Court, your appeal would have to be dismissed or the Circuit Court would have to remand it back to J&DR;.

The appeal of a J&DR;Order is a trial "de novo", i.e. it is a completely new trial, as if the first one never occurred.

Mr. Moseley is correct that every court has its own scheduling process. His advice about your being overly optimistic and your need to be very, very prepared is exactly right.