Section 8.01-36 - Joinder of action of tort to infant with action for recovery of expenses incurred thereby and claim for recovery of expenses by infantA. Where there is pending any action by an infant plaintiff against a tort-feasor for a personal injury, where the cause of action accrued prior to July 1, 2013, any parent or guardian of such infant, who is entitled to recover from the same tort-feasor the expenses of curing or attempting to cure such infant from the result of such personal injury, may bring an action against such tort-feasor for such expenses, in the same court where such infant's case is pending, either in the action filed in behalf of the infant or in a separate action. If the claim for expenses be by separate action, upon motion of any party to either case, made to the court at least one week before the trial, both cases shall be tried together at the same time as parts of the same transaction. But separate verdicts when there is a jury trial shall be rendered, and the judgment shall distinctly separate the decision and judgment in the separate causes of action. In the event of the cases being carried to the Court of Appeals, which may be done if there be the jurisdictional amount in either case, they shall both be carried together as one case and record, but the Court of Appeals shall clearly specify the decision in each case, separating them in the decision to the extent necessary to do justice among the parties. If an appeal is taken from the judgment of the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court, in matters in which it grants the petition for appeal, shall clearly specify the decision in each case, separating them in the decision to the extent necessary to do justice among the parties.
B. For causes of action that accrue on or after July 1, 2013, the past and future expenses of curing or attempting to cure an infant of personal injuries proximately caused by a tort-feasor are damages recoverable by an infant in a cause of action against the tort-feasor and, if applicable to the infant's cause of action, are subject to the limitation on damages in § 8.01-581.15. Any parent or guardian of such infant who has paid for or is personally obligated to pay for past or future expenses to cure or attempt to cure the infant shall have a lien and right of reimbursement against any recovery by the infant up to the amount the parent or guardian has actually paid or is personally obligated to pay. The right to reimbursement of any parent or guardian shall accrue upon the first tender of funds of any recovery from a tort-feasor to the infant. Court approval of the infant settlement shall release party defendants from all claims for past or future expenses of curing or attempting to cure the infant. Nothing in this section shall relieve a parent of the obligation to pay for the medical expenses of curing or attempting to cure the infant as such obligation exists under current law.
Code 1950, § 8-629; 1954, c. 333; 1973, c. 277; 2013, cc. 551, 689; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 489.Amended by Acts 2021SP1 c. 489,§ 1, eff. 1/1/2022.Amended by Acts 2013 c. 689, § 1, eff. 7/1/2013.Amended by Acts 2013 c. 551, § 1, eff. 7/1/2013.