Early this month, Governor Youngkin signed two vicarious liability bills brought by VTLA and carried through the General Assembly by legislative warriors from both parties. This is a significant achievement that restores fundamental rights to vulnerable victims in our commonwealth. As an organization, we are deeply indebted to Sen. Russet Perry, Sen. Mark Obenshain, and Del. Karrie Delaney who boldly carried and advocated for the bills, and to our VTLA legislative team who gave their all to the effort.
When we started looking at this issue last year, we felt this was just the start of a long journey to directly address a series of opinions from the Virginia Supreme Court. VTLA's Legislative Counsel Mark Dix and Government Affairs Director Mandy Burnett directed the effort, along with the full support of VTLA leadership, legislative committee leadership and, as in so many of our successes, past presidents who stepped in.
These bills survived assaults on many fronts, but the ultimate winner is the vulnerable Virginian assaulted by an employee who had been able to obtain access only by virtue of their employment. These bills return Virginia law to where it was before 2018. Without taking away any affirmative defenses the employer had previously, it allows a jury to decide liability when an employer knows their employees will be in contact with vulnerable individuals and know they should exercise control over their employee.
For more details, please read our legislative update that was sent earlier this month.
While the bills are fairly tightly written, we may need to tighten them up a little more next year. Even with a possible change, the vast majority of cases will remain covered.
Again, huge thanks to Mark and Mandy here, the remarkable support of our Executive Council, legislative leadership, active members on our lobby day, and some special members who dropped everything to help. This is teamwork at its very best.
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