§ 8.01-227.Remedy by motion on certain bonds given or taken by officers; notice.

Officers who handle money or property in an official capacity — clerks, sheriffs, and similar officials — are often required to post a bond that a court receives, files, or records, giving the people they deal with a source of recovery if the officer mishandles funds or breaches a duty. This section provides a streamlined route to collect on that bond: rather than filing a separate lawsuit, a person protected by the bond can ask the court where the bond is on file to enter judgment by motion, for whatever amount that person would be entitled to recover in an ordinary action at law under the bond’s terms.

The procedure still requires fair notice to the people on the hook for the bond. The motion has to be preceded by reasonable notice, at least ten days, to the bond’s obligors, and that notice can be served by any method sufficient to support a judgment in personam, meaning a personal judgment enforceable against the obligor, rather than requiring the more elaborate procedures a full civil action would call for.