---
type: "Bill"
title: "District courts; jurisdictional limit does not include any attorney fees."
description: "Provides that the jurisdictional limit for general district courts does not include any attorney fees. The bill requires that the amount of an appeal bond required for appeals from a district court include any amount awarded for attorney fees in the case."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1342"
citation: "Virginia SB 1342 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts Not of Record", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Scott A. Surovell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3ac6fabf-f123-4942-bb7d-e9b7da4d887e"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1342"
source_hash: "15e5ed053ba2e8dd419c1757184415a9db3fac782c18e1bed845e7972ba826dd"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 1342 (2017) — District courts; jurisdictional limit does not include any attorney fees.

Provides that the jurisdictional limit for general district courts does not include any attorney fees. The bill requires that the amount of an appeal bond required for appeals from a district court include any amount awarded for attorney fees in the case.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0657)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0657)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1342ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1342ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103446D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1342)
4. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17103446D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1342E)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment — **9–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of House amendment agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- House amendment agreed to by Senate — **33–7** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **11–4** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **26–14** (pass) · legislature
- House amendment agreed to by Senate — **36–4** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with amendment BLOCK VOTE — **100–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendment — **21–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Scott A. Surovell — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103446D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-01** Reading of amendment waived
- **2017-02-01** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-01** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1342E
- **2017-02-01** Printed as engrossed 17103446D-E
- **2017-02-06** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-06** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-21** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-22** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2017-02-22** Engrossed by House as amended
- **2017-02-22** Passed House with amendment BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-20** Approved by Governor-Chapter 657 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3ac6fabf-f123-4942-bb7d-e9b7da4d887e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).