Sunday, October 12, 2008
The General Assembly is not in session.
Tracking Virginia’s General Assembly
since 2007.
SB171: Ex parte affidavit or written statement; nonadmissible in a personal injury or wrongful death case.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 8.01-404 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 8.01-404. Contradiction by prior inconsistent writing.
A witness may be cross-examined as to previous statements made
by him in writing or reduced into writing, relative to the subject matter of
the civil action, without such writing being shown to him; but if it is
intended to contradict such witness by the writing, his attention must, before
such contradictory proof can be given, be called to the particular occasion on
which the writing is supposed to have been made, and he may be asked if he did
not make a writing of the purport of the one to be offered to contradict him,
and if he denies making it, or does not admit its execution, it shall then be
shown to him, and if he admits its genuineness, he shall be allowed to make his
own explanation of it; but it shall be competent for the court at any time
during the trial to require the production of the writing for its inspection,
and the court may thereupon make such use of it for the purpose of the trial as
it may think best. This section is subject to the qualification, that in an
action to recover for a personal injury or death by wrongful act or neglect, no
ex parte affidavit or statement in writing other than a deposition, after due
notice, of a witness and no extrajudicial recording of the voice of such
witness, or reproduction or transcript thereof, as to the facts or
circumstances attending the wrongful act or neglect complained of, shall be used
to contradict him as a witness in the case admissible for any
purpose. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
the use of any such ex parte affidavit or statement in an action on an
insurance policy based upon a judgment recovered in a personal injury or death
by wrongful act case.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.