§ 8.01-166.How defendant may apply therefor, and have judgment suspended.

Article 15 answers an old problem in real-property litigation: what happens when someone who occupied and improved land in the honest belief that they owned it loses a suit for that land? Section 8.01-166 opens the article by giving that occupant — described here as the defendant in the land-recovery action — a way to ask for credit for the value added to the property, rather than walking away with nothing for the money and labor invested.

The section applies only when no damages have already been assessed under Article 14, the related procedure for recovering possession of land. Before the court executes the judgment or decree awarding the land to the plaintiff, the defendant — or someone claiming through the defendant — may present a pleading asserting that the property was held under a title believed to be good, and that permanent improvements were made to it. The pleading asks the court to allow credit for those improvements, over and above whatever the defendant owes for having used and occupied the land.

The court does not have to grant this request automatically. Section 8.01-166 gives the court discretion to first weigh whether the allegations carry the ring of truth. If the court finds probable truth in what the defendant alleges, it can suspend execution of the judgment and impanel a jury to work out two figures side by side: the damages owed to the plaintiff for the defendant’s use of the land, and the allowance owed to the defendant for the improvements made to it.