§ 8.01-119.Hearing to review issuance of order or process under § 8.01-114 or to consider request for such order or process.

Section 8.01-119 supplies the check on the ex parte seizure power granted by Section 8.01-114. Within thirty days after any ex parte order or process issues, or promptly on either party’s application, and always after reasonable notice, the court holds a hearing to review the decision to issue the order, or to consider a plaintiff’s request for one that has not yet been granted. That hearing can be combined with a prompt exemption hearing under Section 8.01-546.2, with a trial on the merits, or both — and if combined with an exemption hearing, it has to happen within ten business days of the request. If the plaintiff gives reasonable notice of an intent to seek the order before the hearing, the court can hold it on the return day of the warrant instead.

At the hearing’s conclusion, the court lets the seizure order stand — or issues a new one — only if the evidence establishes the petition’s required facts, and the court is satisfied that one or more statutory grounds for seizure exist, or that the defendant is likely insolvent so a later money judgment would probably prove worthless, or that the plaintiff may suffer other irreparable harm if the request is denied, and, on top of that, there is a substantial likelihood the plaintiff will prevail at trial. Miss any of those elements, and the order does not stand.

If the court instead rules for the defendant, the prior order is abated and the property goes back to whoever it was taken from, to await the final trial. Proof of the defendant’s insolvency cannot be used to affirm a prior ex parte order after the fact — it can only support an initial application for possession made after reasonable notice. Whatever order comes out of this hearing remains subject to the bond requirements of Sections 8.01-115 and 8.01-116.