VA Bar Civil Procedure 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Virginia Supreme Court Rule 4:1, the scope of permissible discovery in civil cases extends to:
- Only evidence admissible at trial
- Any non-privileged matter relevant to the subject matter of the action, even if inadmissible at trial (Correct answer)
- Only documents created within five years before the lawsuit
- Information unavailable from any other source
Correct answer: Any non-privileged matter relevant to the subject matter of the action, even if inadmissible at trial
Virginia Rule 4:1 permits discovery of any non-privileged matter relevant to the subject matter of the pending action, which is broader than the admissibility standard applied at trial.
Question 2: Under Virginia Supreme Court Rule 4:8, without leave of court, each party may serve no more than how many interrogatories on another party?
- 15 interrogatories
- 25 interrogatories (Correct answer)
- 30 interrogatories
- 50 interrogatories
Correct answer: 25 interrogatories
Virginia Rule 4:8 limits each party to 25 interrogatories, including all discrete subparts, without obtaining leave of court.
Question 3: Under Virginia Rule 3:20, a court must grant summary judgment when:
- The moving party presents stronger evidence than the nonmoving party
- There is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law (Correct answer)
- The nonmoving party fails to file a timely written opposition
- The judge believes the moving party will likely prevail at trial
Correct answer: There is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law
Summary judgment under Virginia Rule 3:20 requires that there be no genuine dispute of material fact and that the moving party be entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Question 4: Under Va. Code § 8.01-335, a court may strike a civil case from its docket and dismiss it for failure to prosecute if the case has not been placed on the trial docket within:
- 1 year of commencement
- 2 years of commencement
- 3 years of commencement (Correct answer)
- 5 years of commencement
Correct answer: 3 years of commencement
Under Va. Code § 8.01-335, a circuit court may dismiss a civil case that has not been brought to trial within 3 years after commencement of the action.
Question 5: Which category of material receives the highest level of protection under the work product doctrine in Virginia?
- Underlying facts known to the attorney about the case
- Witness statements obtained by a party before litigation began
- Attorney's mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and legal theories prepared in anticipation of litigation (Correct answer)
- All documents generated after a lawsuit is filed
Correct answer: Attorney's mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and legal theories prepared in anticipation of litigation
Virginia Rule 4:1(b)(3) grants opinion work product—an attorney's mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and legal theories—the strongest protection, requiring extraordinary circumstances to overcome.
Question 6: Before filing a motion to compel discovery responses in Virginia, counsel is generally required to:
- Obtain a court order scheduling a discovery conference
- Make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute with opposing counsel without court intervention (Correct answer)
- Pay an enhanced filing fee equal to the original complaint fee
- File a sworn affidavit that the information is unavailable from any other source
Correct answer: Make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute with opposing counsel without court intervention
Virginia courts require a good-faith effort to resolve discovery disputes between counsel before burdening the court with a motion to compel.
Question 7: In a Virginia civil trial, which party bears the burden of proof for affirmative defenses such as contributory negligence or statute of limitations?
- The plaintiff, who must disprove all affirmative defenses raised
- The defendant, who must prove affirmative defenses by a preponderance of the evidence (Correct answer)
- Neither party; the court determines affirmative defenses independently
- The party who first raises the issue in the pleadings bears no burden at trial
Correct answer: The defendant, who must prove affirmative defenses by a preponderance of the evidence
In Virginia civil litigation, the party asserting an affirmative defense bears the burden of proving it by a preponderance of the evidence at trial.
VA Bar Civil Procedure 2
Under Virginia Supreme Court Rule 4:1, the scope of permissible discovery in civil cases extends to: