Bill Text: VA HB47 | 2012 | Regular Session | Prefiled

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Bill Title: Persons acting in defense of property; civil immunity provided for an occupant of dwelling, etc.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-30 - House: Stricken from docket by Courts of Justice by voice vote [HB47 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2012-HB47-Prefiled.html

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12100533D
HOUSE BILL NO. 47 Offered January 11, 2012 Prefiled December 16, 2011 A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 8.01-223.3, relating to immunity for persons acting in defense of property. ---------- Patron-- Bell, Richard P. ---------- Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 8.01-223.3 as follows:

§8.01-223.3. Immunity for persons acting in defense of property.

Any person who lawfully occupies a dwelling and uses any degree of physical force, including deadly physical force, against another person when the other person has unlawfully entered the dwelling, having committed an overt act toward the occupant or another person in the dwelling, and the occupant reasonably believes he or another person in the dwelling is in imminent danger of bodily injury, shall be immune from civil liability for injuries to or death of the other person who has unlawfully entered the dwelling that results from the use of such force.