Selected Risks Insurance v. Dean

In Virginia, the settled rule is that “a judgment of conviction or acquittal in a criminal prosecution does not establish in a subsequent civil action the truth of the facts on which it was rendered” and “such judgment of conviction or acquittal is not admissible in evidence” in the civil case. Smith v. New Dixie Lines, 201 Va. 466, 472, 111 S.E.2d 434, 438 (1959) (citations omitted). “The reason for the rule is that the parties in a criminal proceeding are not the same as those in a civil proceeding and there is a consequent lack of mutuality.” Id. In this dispute about insurance coverage,…