§ 8.01-675.5.Appeal of interlocutory orders and decrees by permission; immunity.

Section 8.01-675.5 gives litigants a way to seek early appellate review of an otherwise unappealable order. Before trial begins, any party in a pending civil action may move the circuit court to certify an order or decree for interlocutory appeal. The motion has to include a concise analysis of the controlling statutes, rules, or cases and ask the court to certify in writing that the order involves a question of law with substantial ground for difference of opinion, no clear controlling precedent from the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals, dispositive effect on a material aspect of the pending proceeding, and a genuine benefit to the parties from an interlocutory appeal.

If the circuit court certifies the order, the moving party has 15 days from that certification to file a petition for appeal with the Court of Appeals. Accepting the appeal is not automatic even then — the Court of Appeals decides in its discretion whether the certification has sufficient merit, and it notifies the certifying circuit court and counsel of its decision either way. Once accepted, the appeal does not jump ahead of the docket unless the Court so orders.

As with the immunity-order appeals in §§ 8.01-670.2 and 8.01-670.3, filing a petition or appeal under this section does not automatically stay the circuit court case; a stay requires a finding that the appeal could dispose of the entire action or that good cause, apart from the pending petition or appeal, justifies one. And skipping interlocutory review under this section, or having it denied, does not by itself preclude review of the same issue later on appeal from a final order, unless the denial order specifically says otherwise.