If the driver who struck your car with his pickup truck was talking on the cell phone causing your wife to be hospitalized, it is just as if he was driving while intoxicated. As a Virginia injury attorney, I follow the studies about cell phone use in automobiles which show that drivers talking, even on a hands free device, are driving with only half of their brain. A person driving his vehicle and talking on the phone is not able to pay as much attention to what is going on on the highway as a person who is concentrating on the driving task.
So, the proposals for new laws in Virginia saying that handheld cell phone usage should be prohibited only go to part of the problem but not the real problem. It isn’t that you only have the use of one arm while talking on a handheld cell phone that is the problem. It is the loss of one half of your brain while you are distracted even on the hands free unit that causes the car crash.
When I file a lawsuit whether in a Virginia (VA) or a North Carolina (NC) court on behalf of someone who was injured in an automobile accident, I immediately send a question to the at-fault driver that asks them for a copy of their cell phone bill for the month, including the date of the crash. Having the evidence in the lawsuit to prove that the driver who struck my client in their car was chatting on the phone when the collision occurred makes a big difference. If there are serious injuries, or even a wrongful death, associated with a motorist who is distracted on the cell phone, the insurance company for the at-fault driver is going to have to pay a maximum award to the individual or family I am helping.
Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia, with offices in northeast NC and Virginia Beach (VA), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm’s website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits three injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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