§ 8.01-277.Defective process; motion to quash; untimely service; motion to dismiss.

Subsection A gives a defendant a specific, early tool for attacking bad process: a motion to quash, aimed at any defect in the issuance, service, or return of process. It has to be filed before, or at the same time as, any pleading to the merits, raise it too late, alongside a substantive defense, and the objection is gone. If the court sustains the motion, it can strike the proof of service or allow the process or its return to be amended, whichever seems just.

Subsection B addresses the more serious problem of a defendant who was never served at all within a year of the case being filed. That defendant can make a special appearance, one that does not count as a general appearance, to move for dismissal. If the court finds the plaintiff did not exercise due diligence to achieve timely service, as § 8.01-275.1 defines that standard, it sustains the motion and dismisses the action with prejudice. If the plaintiff did exercise due diligence, the court denies the motion and gives the moving defendant 21 days to file a responsive pleading. Nothing in the section stops the plaintiff from taking a nonsuit under § 8.01-380 before the entry of an order granting the motion to dismiss, and the subsection does not apply to asbestos cases.