The Supreme Court Issues an Unpublished Order Which Finds that an Unsigned Complaint is a Legal Nullity and Void Ab Initio.
Windset Capital Corp. v. Debosky, Record No. 230733 (Va. Oct. 24, 2024) (unpub.)
In an unpublished order, the Supreme Court affirms the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the reasons stated in its unpublished opinion Windset Capital Corp. v. Debosky, Record No. 1216-22-4 (Va. Ct. App. Sept. 12, 2023). That opinion ruled that a default judgment based on an unsigned complaint is void and can be challenged at any time, and that attempting to cure a missing signature without court permission is ineffective under the 2016 version of Code § 8.01-271.1. Importantly, the Supreme Court declined to address the 2020 amendments to Code § 8.01-271.1, leaving open questions about how this ruling might apply to cases under the current version of the statute.
Chief Justice Goodwyn and Justice Powell dissented. They believed that the plain language of the 2016 version of Code § 8.01-271.1 provided a cure for an unsigned pleading. Specifically, the pleading could be “signed promptly after the omission is called to the attention of the pleader.” Further, previous Virginia cases dealing with signature defects involved improper signatures rather than merely unsigned pleadings. An unsigned pleading is voidable, rather than void, making it immune from collateral attack and subject to Rule 1:1 limitations