Many people do not realize that Virginia keeps an ancient English law on the books for car wreck cases and other torts saying that if the injured person is 1% at fault, they shall recover nothing.The rule of contributory negligence says that the injured person has to have acted reasonably for his ow
A wise, old personal injury attorney once said “The injured person doesn’t make any money on appeal.”The reason that appeal is bad for the plaintiff is that the best an appellate court can ever do is to reaffirm something good that has already happened in the trial court. If an injured person or a f
It never ceases to amaze me how big insurance companies and corporations do everything in their power to prevent people from being able to make injury claims when they get hurt.Big businesses use all of their money and leverage to try to pay as little as they can get away with paying in all regards.
BY: JOHN M. COOPERThe very first question when someone calls me about a products liability case is do you have the product in question in your possession.The reason this is the first question is that the only way you can win such a case is to have an expert examine the product to confirm that it was
Hospital emergency rooms are stretched to the limits, which can lead to medical mistakes.A 1999 study showed that more than half of all preventable hospital error claims result from mistakes in the emergency room (ER). The main problem is chaos. Hospital emergency rooms are not properly funded and t
Our clients often ask us who should I go see after an automobile wreck with a personal injury.The choice of what kind of doctor to go see is up to the individual. There is no right answer. Generally, I, as an attorney, try to stay out of the decision. However, I do give information to folks who have
The vast majority of car wrecks happen within a 3 mile radius of your home.If you think about it, it is just a matter of common sense that more personal injuries happen near home. You are on the road more near your house than anywhere other than work. Because almost every trip begins and ends near h
One of the initial questions faced by the victims of other’s negligence is whether they should seek medical attention.While the answer to this question is driven by the facts of the particular incident (i.e. the age of the victim, site of the injury, degree of trauma, etc.), early and appropriate me
It never ceases to amaze me how attorneys representing big corporations like CSX Railroad will try to bully and threaten the injured worker and his attorney only to give in in the end when faced with clear law in favor of the little guy.One example of this bluster by railroad defense attorneys has t
We have all heard a similar joke, even from health care providers, that the last place you want to be if you are sick is the hospital.Hospitals are dangerous places. In addition to infections, there are many other dangers of injury and death posed by hospitals that are preventable. An independent ag
If your personal injury case involves more than one state, it is more complex and requires an attorney familar with handling such cases.Lots of personal injury cases involve more than one state. For example, if you are from North Carolina and you have a car crash just across the border in Virginia,
Not long ago, we saw a huge verdict of $3,000,000.00 in a mild brain injury case in Hampton, VA.A 41 year old woman was driving when a dump truck took a left turn in front of her. In addition to orthopedic injuries, the woman suffered symptoms of brain injury like memory loss, anxiety and loss of ba
