Virginia lawmakers earned a “Lawsuit Inferno” designation for the second consecutive year in the American Tort Reform Association’s 2026 Legislative HeatCheck report.
Lawmakers once again pushed to expand liability, resulting in Gov. Abigail Spanberger exercising her veto pen during her first year in office to stop a bill that would have created class actions in Virginia courts for the first time.
“Virginia lawmakers are introducing and passing more liability-expanding legislation than we’ve seen in memory,” said Tiger Joyce, ATRA’s president. “Gov. Spanberger stopped the most extreme bill, but significant legislative fights this year showed how much influence the trial bar now holds in Richmond.”
Three bills drove Virginia’s “Lawsuit Inferno” status this year: a first-of-its-kind class action bill Spanberger vetoed, a bill doubling the cap on appeal bonds that was signed into law — making Virginia the first state to raise its statutory cap — and a medical liability bill that started as an attempt to more than double malpractice damage caps before public pushback forced changes.
The class action bill (SB 229/HB 449) would have allowed plaintiffs to bring class actions in Virginia courts for the first time, but it would have done so without the safeguards common in other states’ class action laws. The governor offered amendments adding those safeguards, but lawmakers rejected them, and she vetoed both bills May 19.
“This bill would have immediately turned every Virginia court into a potential magnet for class action lawsuits without the guardrails other states use to prevent abuse,” Joyce said. “The governor’s amendments would have fixed that, but lawmakers chose not to take her up on it.”
HB 1111, which doubles the cap on appeal bonds from $25 million to $50 million, is now Virginia law. The cap limits how much cash or collateral a company must secure to appeal an excessive verdict. The Commonwealth now has the distinction of being the only state ever to raise its statutory cap, which is expected to make it more difficult for small- and mid-sized businesses to appeal an excessive judgment. It’s the second year in a row lawmakers tried to raise the cap — last year’s attempt would have raised it 700%, to $200 million, before then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed it.
“Doubling the bond cap means a company facing a runaway verdict now needs twice as much capital simply to have the opportunity to bring an appeal,” Joyce said. “That’s a steep price for justice, and it’s likely to hit the mid-sized businesses crucial to Virginia’s economy the hardest.”
The third bill ATRA highlights in its report ultimately was less problematic, but the group notes the “chaotic lifecycle” of SB 536. What started as a one-line change allowing prejudgment interest on medical malpractice awards passed the Senate unanimously, but then a House committee rewrote it to dramatically expand medical liability in the state. Lawmakers ultimately removed those changes and the version Spanberger signed only requires insurers to report malpractice claims and payouts.
“What started as a modest fix turned into an attempt to rewrite Virginia’s medical liability rules overnight,” Joyce said. “Lawmakers were right to strip it back, but only after strong public pushback and concern about the impact it would have on health care in the state — impacting both cost and access for patients. The fact that the bill moved as far as it did in the process shows the lengths some in Richmond are willing to go.”
Recent data shows that excessive litigation already costs Virginia families nearly $7,400 per year in a “tort tax” for a family of four, or $1,849 per person. Excessive tort costs also contribute to a loss of 135,840 jobs and $16.3 billion in economic output across the state annually, along with $835.9 million in lost state government revenue.
“Gov. Spanberger stopped the most extreme bill this year, but Virginia lawmakers keep testing how far they can go,” Joyce said. “The Commonwealth needs a Legislature that builds a fair legal system, not one that requires a veto every session to hold the line.”
Virginia, which was also named a “Lawsuit Inferno” in ATRA’s 2025 Legislative HeatCheck, joins Colorado as the 2026 “Lawsuit Inferno” legislatures. ATRA’s full 2026 Legislative HeatCheck report is available at heatcheck.atra.org.
