Personal Injury Lawyer in Virginia Beach Virginia
VA Personal Injury Attorney Serving Clients in Virginia Beach
Most of us never plan for a serious accident that results in devastating personal injuries. Yet accidents happen all the time when other people behave in careless or reckless ways. Getting hurt in a car accident or a slip and fall accident, or after visiting a healthcare provider or using a defective consumer product, can result in significant financial, physical, and emotional losses. Many people who sustain personal injuries cannot return to work immediately, while other people suffer permanent disabling injuries that prevent them from working again. In addition to lost wages, the costs of surgeries, hospital bills, and other medical bills can pile up.
If you or someone you love got hurt and someone else is at fault, you deserve to seek financial compensation. Do not hesitate to get in touch with an aggressive personal injury lawyer in Virginia Beach Virginia who can get started on your claim.
What is a Virginia Beach, Virginia Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Personal injury law is relatively broad area of the law that permits an injured person to seek financial compensation for losses from an injury by filing a civil lawsuit. To be clear, personal injury lawsuits are civil cases, which means that they are not associated with criminal liability. Instead, personal injury lawsuits are a way for an injured person to obtain financial compensation from the person who is responsible for the accident and injuries.
There are numerous types of cases housed within the broad legal category of personal injury law. In general, if you or a loved one sustained injuries because of another party’s negligence, you should learn more about whether filing a personal injury claim is right for you.
Types of Personal Injury Claims That We Handle in Virginia Beach, VA
At Breit Law PC, we regularly assist clients with a wide variety of personal injury lawsuits. Examples of the types of cases we take include but are not limited to the following:
- Car accidents;
- Truck accidents;
- DUI accidents;
- Bicycle accidents;
- Pedestrian accidents;
- Railroad accidents;
- Medical malpractice;
- Dangerous drugs cases;
- Premises liability lawsuits;
- Product liability lawsuits;
- Admiralty law and maritime claims;
- Longshoreman claims;
- Insurance claims and appeals; and
- Wrongful death lawsuits.
Common Causes of Personal Injury Claims in Virginia Beach, Virginia
What are some of the most common reasons that people file personal injury claims? There are numerous examples of actions (or omissions) that can give rise to a successful personal injury lawsuit in Virginia Beach. The following are examples:
- Distracted driver was texting while driving and caused an accident;
- Aggressive driver was speeding or ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle;
- Drunk driver got behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and caused a deadly collision;
- Property owner failed to clean up a liquid spill that resulted in a slip and fall accident;
- Business owner failed to replace a burnt-out light bulb, leading a customer to trip and fall in a dark area of the store;
- Over-the-counter medication was designed defectively, resulting in serious health risks to a patient using the drug;
- Furniture item developed a defect during the phase of manufacturing that resulted in serious injury risks to young children in a home;
- Physician failed to diagnose cancer;
- Surgeon operated on the wrong body part of a patient (wrong-site surgery);
- Surgeon left a sponge inside a patient during a surgical procedure; or
- Laboratory tech was negligent in testing a sample for a serious illness or disease, resulting in a delayed diagnosis.
Statute of Limitations in a Virginia Beach, VA Personal Injury Case
Every personal injury case has a statute of limitations that requires an injury victim to file a claim within a particular time window. Under Virginia law (Virginia Code § 8.01-243), most personal injury lawsuits must be brought within two years after the date of the plaintiff’s injury. The statute of limitations is rarely extended. Some of the only situations in which the statute of limitations can be extended beyond the two-year window include the following types of medical negligence claims:
- Foreign object being left in a patient’s body;
- Fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation prevented the plaintiff from immediately discovering the injury; and/or
- Failure to diagnose cancer or another type of life-threatening condition.
Damages in Your Virginia Beach, VA Personal Injury Claim
Plaintiffs in a Virginia personal injury case typically may be eligible to receive two different types of compensatory damages, both of which are aimed at compensating a plaintiff for his or her losses. Those two types of compensatory damages include:
- Economic damages, which compensate a plaintiff for direct financial losses. Examples of economic damages can include compensation for medical bills, prescription medical costs, lost wages and future lost wages, and rehabilitative therapy.
- Non-economic damages, which compensate a plaintiff for subjective losses that are more difficult to quantify. Examples of non-economic damages might include compensation for pain and suffering, disfigurement, or a plaintiff’s loss of enjoyment of life as a result of her injuries.
In addition to compensatory damages, some plaintiffs also may be able to seek punitive damages. Punitive damages are not awarded in most cases. This type of damages award is not designed to compensate a victim for any kind of losses, but instead is aimed at punishing the defendant for particularly egregious and harmful behavior or inaction. While a plaintiff still can receive punitive damages, their purpose is not to compensate for particular losses. Under Virginia law (Virginia Code § 8.01-38.1), punitive damages are also capped. Even if a jury awards $1,000,000, for example, Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000.
Contact a Personal Injury Attorney in Virginia Beach, Virginia
If you or someone you love got hurt in an accident or because of another party’s negligent behavior, it is extremely important to speak with a Virginia Beach, VA personal injury attorney about your options for seeking financial compensation. The sooner you get in touch with a lawyer to begin the process of filing your claim, the quicker you may be able to obtain the compensation you deserve. Contact Breit Law PC to learn more about how we assist clients with a wide variety of personal injury cases in Virginia Beach, Virginia.