Supreme Court of Virginia Shifts Jurisdiction of Some Actions of Unlawful Detainer

In June of 2016, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided 帕里什v. 房利美(Fannie Mae), 为弗吉尼亚州法院审判某些类型的非法拘留行为的方式开创了新的先例.  这个案例对那些仍然被前业主占用的止赎房产的购买者来说意义重大, making litigation to gain possession more complex, 耗时且昂贵. 

When a bank puts a property up for foreclosure sale, the previous occupants sometimes refuse to leave the premises.  在这种情况下，新的财产所有人(丧失抵押品赎回权的购买者)必须向法院提起“非法拘留”诉讼.  非法拘留是对合法占有财产的被告提起的诉讼, 但是他的权利已经结束了.  这是请求法院宣布丧失抵押品赎回权的购买者现在拥有合法的占有权, and that the previous occupants must vacate the premises. 

去理解…的后果 帕里什v. 房利美(Fannie Mae), it is important to quickly review the structure of the Virginia judicial system.  The lowest courts are the General District Courts (civil, traffic and criminal divisions) and the Juvenile & 家庭关系法庭. 普通区域法院定期审理业主与租客之间的纠纷，包括对非法拘留者的诉讼. 对普通地区法院判决的上诉将由巡回法院审理，但前提是上诉人备注并完善上诉，包括按下级法院裁定的金额缴纳保释金. 对巡回法院判决的上诉将由上诉法院或弗吉尼亚最高法院审理. The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the state and its decisions are final. 

General District Courts are the entry level courts for most types of cases. The majority of parties going before the court are “pro se,这意味着他们没有律师代表. 像巡回法院一样，弗吉尼亚州的每个城市和县都有普通地区法院. 这些法庭由一名法官主持，有权审理轻罪刑事案件和最高25美元的民事索赔,000美元.  与巡回法院不同，他们没有权力决定财产的完整所有权.  然而, 一般地区法院传统上有权裁定非法拘留者诉讼中财产的占有情况. 一般区域法院的惯例是，业主如能证明租客, 在得到适当的通知之后, are behind in their rent or have otherwise violated terms of an agreement to lease.  

The fact that Circuit Courts have the power to try cases involving complete title, 而普通地区法院则没有这种权力, 是关键和无可争议的吗.  

直到 帕里什 是在2016年决定的, unlawful detainer actions have not been considered to involve determinations of complete title.  它们被简单地看作是确定争端中哪一方有权拥有财产的行动.  然而, in cases where a former owner of the property challenges title, the 帕里什 决定认为普通地区法院没有审理非法拘留者的管辖权. 

In the case at hand, 帕里什的 conveyed their property to a trustee by deed of trust.  受托人随后通过受托人的契约将包裹转交给联邦全国抵押贷款协会, 或者“房利美”.“房利美向教区发出了撤离通知，并向汉诺威县地方法院提交了非法拘留传票.  The 帕里什es defended by alleging breach of trust.  They claimed that their deed of trust contained federal regulation 2 C.F.R. § 1024.41(g), 如果借款人在收到最初的止赎通知后的37天内提交一份损失减轻声明，哪些措施可以防止止赎.  

The General District Court of Hanover County heard the case, and found that the foreclosure was not a material breach of the deed of trust.  房利美(Fannie Mae) was awarded possession of the property.  The 帕里什es appealed to the Circuit Court of Hanover County, which affirmed the General District Court’s decision in favor of 房利美(Fannie Mae).  The 帕里什es appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia. 

在一个意想不到的决定, the Supreme Court of Virginia vacated the Circuit Court’s ruling and found for appellants, 帕里什的.  多数法官认为，教区关于严重违反信托的指控足以提出完整所有权的问题.  因此, the General District Court lacked authority to try the original case, since it only had jurisdiction to determine possession and not matters of complete title. 

同样，最高法院认为巡回法院对此案也缺乏管辖权.  尽管巡回法院有权在他们面前的案件中决定完整的所有权, 这项权力不适用于上诉，因为上诉法院的管辖权完全来自下级法院审理案件的权力.  换句话说, if the General District Court never had authority to try the case, the Circuit Court would also be unable to hear it on appeal.  因此, the Circuit Court’s authority was limited to dismissing the case without prejudice, 后 which 房利美(Fannie Mae) could refile the case in the Circuit Court.  然后，巡回法院可以行使自己的管辖权来解决所有权问题. 

作为这个决定的结果, when a question concerning title is raised in the General District Courts, 法官现在必须首先确定索赔是否足以提出完整所有权的善意问题.  If not, the General District Court will retain jurisdiction and may hear the case.  然而, 如果真的有所有权问题, the case must be dismissed without prejudice and refiled in Circuit Court. 

当原告事先占有该财产然后将其交给被告时，所有权问题从来不是一个因素.  例如, 业主/原告向拒绝迁出物业的租客提起非法羁留诉讼，不会与租客发生业权纠纷, since the tenant never had title in the first place.  The landlord will only need to show that she has the right of possession.  因此, the case may be heard in General District Court. 

当原告要求的占有权已经获得时，完整所有权的问题可能会出现 后 被告进入财产.  In such a case, the plaintiff’s right of possession depends not on 恢复 possession, but on claiming possession for the first time.  Unlawful detainer actions arising from foreclosures will almost always fall into this category.  Thus, if the Defendant raises a question of title at the General District Court level, the case will have to be dismissed and re-filed in the Circuit Court.  而在普通区域法院就非法羁留者传票进行聆讯的时间则相对较短(在向被告发出5天通知后约21天)。, getting a date in Circuit Court will take substantially more time. 类似的, 普通地区法院的证据开示主要限于详细说明和辩护理由，而巡回法院的讯问可能会很长, depositions and requests for production of documents. 

While the full effect of this decision is yet to be determined, it seems likely to impact the foreclosure market.  例如, 一个潜在的买家如果担心卷入冗长的法律程序，可能会更倾向于在购买被没收的房产之前犹豫.  The purchaser may narrow their search to include only unoccupied properties, 从而减少了潜在买家的数量，并有效地减少了对丧失抵押品赎回权的需求.  交替, 有兴趣的买主可能出价较低, 推理，额外的时间, 获得财产所需要的金钱和法律行动应该会导致购买价格的降低.  进一步, 可以预见，丧失抵押品赎回权的购买者在向巡回法院寻求救济之前可能会被剥夺占有, while still retaining the obligations of ownership such as the payment of property taxes. 在获得已占用的丧失抵押品赎回权的房产时，潜在的增加的费用和可能的延迟将必须由买方仔细评估, preferably with help from an experienced real estate attorney.  

凯瑟琳Byler 是一个澳门十大正规网赌网址 & 十大正规网赌网址 attorney focusing her practice on real estate, trusts & 财产和监护/托管. 弗吉尼亚有执照的房地产经纪人, Kathryn也是Regent法学院的兼职教授，她目前在那里教授房地产交易.  联系Kathryn kbyler@skyvsky.net.   

布莱恩·皮尔普斯 was an active duty officer in the United States Navy, a student at Regent University School of Law and the law librarian at pender & 写这篇文章的时候是个十大正规网赌网址.  As of October 19, 2018, he is an attorney at 澳门十大正规网赌网址 and 十大正规网赌网址 and can be reached at bpeeples@skyvsky.net.