Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: civil warrant of debt

If you do not contest it, you will lose

automatically without any chance to present your

side of the story (assuming that the other side

shows up and testifies without you).

However, first the plaintiff has to legitimately

"serve" you with the lawsuit so that you are

officially notified.

In Virginia, they can do this by BOTH sending

you a copy in the mail AND ALSO having the

Sheriff's office "post" a copy on your door,

or hand it to you directly.

The copy you received is the mail copy. By

itself, this is NOT sufficient to officially

"serve" you with the lawsuit. So at this

point in time there is no lawsuit, officially.

However, you do need to make sure that the

Warrant in Debt was not posted at an old

address where you used to live, or perhaps

posted on your door and blown away by the

wind.

The week before the court date listed on the

Warrant in Debt, you should go to the clerk

of the court of the general district court and

ask to look at the file. Read on the back what

the Sheriff's office has written. If they

wrote "not found" then do not answer when the

case is called in court (you can go to court,

but don't answer). However, if the Sheriff has

written "posted" then you MUST answer and deny

the charge, or else you will lose automatically.

"Posted" service is valid, official service,

and if you don't answer, judgment will be

entered against you automatically.

Re: civil warrant of debt

What you've received in the mail is most likely

a copy of the papers which a member of the sheriff's department will soon deliver to you personally at your residence or post upon your door.

If you do not respond nor contest, it's unlikely that the lawsuit will be dimissed and quite likely that a default judgment will be entered against you.