CHAPTER 282

An Act to amend and reenact § $8.1-881, as amended, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to required coverage in motor vehicle bodily injury or
property damage liability insurance contracts or policies, and matters
relating thereto.

(H 197]

Approved March 12, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 38.1-881, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 38.1-881. (a) No policy or contract of * bodily injury liability
insurance, or of property damage liability insurance, covering liability
arising from the ownership, maintenance or use of any motor vehicle, shall
be issued or delivered in this State to the owner of such vehicle, or shall
be issued or delivered by any insurer licensed in this State upon any motor
vehicle then principally garaged or principally used in this State, unless
it contains a provision insuring the named insured, and any other person
responsible for the use of or using the motor vehicle with the consent,
expressed or implied, of the named insured, against liability for death
or injury sustained, or loss or damage occasioned within the coverage of
the policy or contract as a result of negligence in the operation or use of
such vehicle by the named insured or by any such person.

(b) Nor shall any such policy or contract be so issued or delivered
unless it contains an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the
insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages
from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits
which shall be no less than the requirements of § 46-455, as amended
from time to time, of the Code herein. Such endorsement or provisions
shall also provide for no less than five thousand dollars coverage for injury
to or destruction of the property of the insured in any one accident but may
ihe an exclusion of the first two hundred dollars of such loss or
mage.

(c) As used in this section, the term “bodily injury” shall include

death resulting therefrom; the term “insured” as used in subsections (b),
(d), (f), and (g) hereof, means the named insured and, while resident of
the same household, the spouse of any such named insured, and relatives
of either, while in a motor vehicle or otherwise, and any person who uses,
with the consent, expressed or implied, of the named insured, the motor
vehicle to which the policy applies and a guest in such motor vehicle to
which the policy applies or the personal representative of any of the above;
and the term “uninsured motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle as to which
there is no (i) bodily injury liability insurance and property damage liabil-
ity insurance both in the amounts specified by § 46-455, as amended from
time to time, or (it) there is such insurance but the insurance company
writing the same denies coverage thereunder, and (iii) there is no b
or deposit or cash securities in lieu of such bodily injury and property
damage liability insurance. A motor vehicle shall be deemed to be uninsured
if the owner or operator thereof be unknown; provided that recovery under
oe nas or provisions shall be subject to the conditions hereinafter
se .
_ , Cd) If the owner or operator of any motor vehicle which causes bodily
injury or property damage to the insured be unknown, the insured or
someone on his behalf, in order for the insured to recover under the
endorsement, shall report the accident as required by § 46-898, unless such
insured is reasonably unable to do so, in which event the insured shall make
such report as soon as reasonably practicable under the circumstances.

(e) If the owner or operator of any vehicle causing injury or damages
be unknown, an action may be instituted against the unknown defendant
as “John Doe” and service of process may be made by delivery of a copy
of the motion for judgment or other pleadings to the clerk of the court in
which the action is brought and service upon the insurance company issuing
the policy shall be made as prescribed by law as though such insurance
company were a party defendant. The insurance company shall have the
right to file pleadings and take other action allowable by law in the name
of John Doe.

(f) An insurer paying a claim under the endorsement or provisions
required by paragraph (b) of this section shall be subrogated to the rights
of the insured to whom such claim was paid against the person causing such
injury, death or damage to the extent that payment was made; provided
that the bringing of an action against the unknown owner or operator as
John Doe or the conclusion of such an action shall not constitute a bar to
the insured, if the identity of the owner or operator who caused the injury
or damages complained of becomes known, from bringing an action against
the owner or operator theretofore proceeded against as John Doe, provided
that any recovery against such owner or operator shall be paid to the
insurance company to the extent that such insurance company paid the
named insured in the action brought against such owner or operator as
John Doe, except that such insurance company shall pay its proportionate
part of any reasonable costs and expense incurred in connection therewith
including reasonable attorneys’ fees. Nothing in an endorsement or pro-
visions made under this paragraph nor any other provision of law shall
operate to prevent the joining in an action against John Doe of the owner
or operator of the motor vehicle causing such injury as a party defendant
and such joinder is hereby specifically authorized.

(g) No such endorsement or provisions shall contain any provision
requiring arbitration of any claim arising under any such endorsement or
provisions, nor may anything be required of the insured except the estab-
lishment of legal liability, nor shall the insured be restricted or prevented
in esd manner from employing legal counsel or instituting legal pro-
ceedings.

(h) The provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall not
apply to any policy of insurance to the extent that it covers the liability
of an employer under any workmen’s compensation law.

a = ane ae shall be in effect on and after July one, nineteen hundred
-eight.