Facchina v. Richardson and Rains

These two cases, arising from the same automobile crash, were consolidated for trial. The jury returned separate verdicts in favor of the plaintiffs, Mildred B. Richardson (Richardson) and John E. Rains (Rains), against only one of the defendants, Ronald V. Facchina (Facchina). Such verdicts amounted to verdicts in favor of the codefendant, Ebert Holmes (Holmes). Mobley v. Pendleton, 212 Va. 418, 184 S.E.2d 798 (1971). We granted writs of error to review the orders granting judgments on the verdicts to Richardson for $40,000 and to Rains for $1,000.

The three major assignments of error urged…