Governor Abigail Spanberger is considering the fate of a bill that could help people recover damages in court.
Big dollar, class action lawsuits often grab headlines, although those are all federal cases. Class action lawsuits are forbidden in state courts, for the most part, denying access to people who are not seeking huge dollar amounts under state law. Victoria Horrock at the Legal Aid Justice Center says that allows low-income people to be nickel and dimed by predatory Virginia businesses.
"I think there's kind of a narrative that this bill was just going to benefit big class action lawyers, and there are certainly very wealthy class action lawyers out there," Horrock says. "But this bill is actually about smaller class actions that come under state law. Those lawyers are already making a lot of money in federal court. This is about average people getting into the court system."
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell introduced legislation to allow class action lawsuits in state courts for the last six years. This year, he got the bill to the governor's desk, but she made amendments he says gutted the bill. And, he says, she blindsided lawmakers with proposed changes she never raised during the General Assembly session.
"Typically, we’d expect the governor to let us know what their position is during session and if they have changes to bills," Surovell says. "That they make it known during session so we have an opportunity to talk about it in public and vet the language in public, allow the public to react and provide testimony or criticism or support if they like it or don't like it."
That never happened, so lawmakers rejected her amendments. Now, she's got a choice to make: sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without her signature.
