Court Opinion

ID: 9588466
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:34:42.023542+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:30.978258
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE CARRICO,
dissenting.
As I read Code § 8.01-66.9, the trial court was empowered to reduce the Commonwealth’s lien in this case only if the first offer of settlement acceptable to plaintiff’s attorney was made within the seventy-two hour period prior to the date set for trial. In fact, the only offer of settlement, which was unacceptable to plaintiffs attorney, was made outside the seventy-two hour period and, indeed, long before the date set for trial. Hence, the triggering event, an offer acceptable to plaintiffs attorney made within seventy-two hours of trial, never occurred.
The result reached by the majority might well be a fair one. But this is a statutory proceeding, not an equity case, and fairness is not an issue. Under the plain language of the statute, the trial court had no authority to reduce the Commonwealth’s lien. I would reverse.