Except for liens created under Article 7.1 (§ 8.01-66.2 et seq.) of Title 8.01, Article 5 (§ 54.1-3932 et seq.) of Title 54.1, and Chapter 19 (§ 63.2-1900 et seq.) of Title 63.2, all causes of action for personal injury or wrongful death and the proceeds derived from court award or settlement shall be exempt from creditor process against the injured person or statutory beneficiary as defined in Article 5 (§ 8.01-50 et seq.) of Title 8.01. It shall not be required that a householder designate any property exempt under this section in a deed in order to secure such exemption. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to affect any voluntary assignment of the proceeds or anticipated proceeds of a personal injury or wrongful death award or settlement as permitted by § 8.01-26.
Va. Code Ann. § 34-28.1
Personal injury and wrongful death actions exempt; exceptions
Applied in 25 court decisions — leading case Wilson v. Dollar General Corp. (2013)
Most recently applied in In re Kern (November 2017)
1990, c. 942; 1991, c. 256; 1993, c. 150; 1994, c. 35; 2003, cc. 929, 942.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.