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Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-42.1

Civil action for racial, religious, or ethnic harassment, violence or vandalism

Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Johnson v. Hugo's Skateway (1992)

Most recently applied in Sines v. Kessler (July 2018)

1988, c. 492; 2020, cc. 746, 1171.

How often courts cite this section

199120002010201820
citing decisions per year

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.

A. An action for injunctive relief or civil damages, or both, shall lie for any person who is subjected to acts of (i) intimidation or harassment, (ii) violence directed against his person, or (iii) vandalism directed against his real or personal property, where such acts are motivated by racial, religious, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic animosity.

B. Any aggrieved party who initiates and prevails in an action authorized by this section shall be entitled to damages, including punitive damages, and in the discretion of the court to an award of the cost of the litigation and reasonable attorney fees in an amount to be fixed by the court.

C. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any actions between an employee and his employer, or between or among employees of the same employer, for damages arising out of incidents occurring in the workplace or arising out of the employee-employer relationship.

D. As used in this section:

"Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities.

Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.