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BACKGROUND2
The City of Newport News provided water a nd sewer services to an apartment building
owned by Seaview Apartments, LLC. Over the course of this relationship, which lasted from
March 2020 through November 2023, Seaview was consistently delinquent in paying the City for
the utility services it received.
In December 2022, the City filed a warrant in debt in general district court for three
unpaid water and sewer bills accrued from December 2020 to May 2021.3 The following month,
January 2023, the City obtained a judgment for the full amount in addition to attorney fees and
costs.
About five months later, on June 6, 2023, the City sued Seaview in circuit court for
$139,446.75 in unpaid bills issued from June 2021 to April 2023. The City later wrote off the
June 2021 bill and, with the circuit court’s permission, amended the complaint accordingly. The
amended complaint asked for $98,480.68 in unpaid bills. In a plea in bar, Seaview responded
that res judicata precluded the City’s claim for amounts due before the January 2023 judgment.
Seaview argued that the claims stemmed from a “running account” and therefore the City
impermissibly split claims that qualified for joinder.
The circuit court denied the plea in bar. It based its ruling on the conclusion that “each
separate . . . bill create[d] a separate cause of action.”
At the ensuing trial, the City established that it invoiced Seaview monthly for its water
and sewer usage. Each monthly invoice also reflected past-due amounts, interest accrued on
those past-due amounts, and late fees. Each bill listed the total amount due, which was the sum
2 We recite the evidence in the light most favorable to the City as the party prevailing at
trial. See Horn v. Webb, 302 Va. 70, 77 (2023).
3 The unpaid bills were issued in January 2021, March 2021, and May 2021. Jump to an indexed page (12 of 12)