Panel advances SB 189 to require attorney contact information on consumer‑debt filings
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Summary
SB 189 would require attorneys in consumer‑debt collection actions to include name, business address and a direct business phone number on initial and subsequent pleadings; the subcommittee adopted a uniform definition of "consumer debt" and reported the bill with amendments.
Sponsor Heather Williams Graves presented SB 189 as a consumer‑protection measure to ensure debtors and courts can contact the attorney responsible for suit documents. The bill would require the attorney of record in any civil action to collect or enforce consumer debt to include name, business address and a direct business telephone number on the initial pleading and all subsequent filings; a filing that fails to meet the requirement would be defective and voidable, though the bill permits a 21‑day cure period.
Members questioned whether the measure duplicated or overlapped a different bill that requires certain information on initial pleadings for courts of record. Committee counsel said SB 189 covers initial and subsequent pleadings and is not limited to courts of record; it does not include the Virginia bar number that another bill requires.
The panel debated the definition of "consumer debt." Members accepted committee counsel’s proposed language drawing from a uniform definition that describes consumer debt as an obligation of an individual arising from a transaction primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. The committee adopted that amendment in concept, and witnesses from the trial lawyers association and the Virginia Poverty Law Center supported the bill; an industry representative urged a narrow change to the "direct telephone" language to avoid requiring a direct desk phone number for every attorney.
The subcommittee voted to report the bill with amendments (clerk recorded votes consistent with a favorable report).
