No Fault State Auto Accident Virginia No Fault Fairfax Lawyers

No fault states require individuals that were victims of a car accident to file for a claim with their insurance company regardless of who was at fault. In these states, people must carry Personal Injury Protection coverage, which usually covers for medical bills and lost income. Only twelve states are no fault states.

The state of Virginia is a fault state, which means that victims of accident have the option to file a lawsuit against the other driver, and if the latter was uninsured or under insured, may file a claim with their insurance company. However, the state of Virginia allows for Personal Injury Protection coverage to be carried, in which cases victims of car accidents will be compensated for their medical expenses and lost wages regardless of whether or not they filed a lawsuit against the at fault driver.

Virginia Auto Accident Lawyer

Due to the state of Virginia having contributive negligence, which state that if the victim is proven to be partially responsible for their accident, they may be prohibited from collecting any compensation, proving that the other driver is 100% responsible for the accident is crucial as the insurance companies will always try to prove otherwise. Usually, the police will file a report describing the crash.

The evidence examined in the report includes the damage sustained by the vehicle, any signs of intoxication in the drivers, skid or brake marks and witness statements. Moreover, additional investigations may be held by an attorney, which will include the collecting of evidence such as security camera footage, data from the electronic data recorder (EDR) of the car and consultation with an accident reconstruction expert if the data and camera footage are not conclusive.

Furthermore, once the fault has been established, the damages must be established as well. In the state of Virginia, the damages possible in a car accident include the economic damages such as medical expenses of the injury, the wages the victim lost and the costs of repairing the car; and the non-economic damages of Pain and Suffering. Punitive damages may also be available in cases where reckless behavior from the other driver such as driving while intoxicated caused the accident.

The statute of limitations in Virginia for filing a Automobile collision compensation case is 2 years and 5 years for cases of property damage or accidents involving infants. In addition to these time caps, the state of Virginia imposes caps for the amounts paid in damages in some cases. These include a cap of $300,000 in punitive damages, $2,000 in cases of damage to private or public property by minors. Virginia also protects against insurance companies denying claims in bad faith, if an insurance company denies the client a comparable rental car in bad faith, the client is entitled to $500 or double the cost of the rental car; similarly, if an insurance company denies a claim of $3,500 in excess of the deductible in bad faith, the client is entitled to double that amount in compensation along with the adjacent attorney fees.

If you need a Virginia Car Accident Lawyer to help you with your Car Accident case in Virginia, call us at 888-437-7747. Our Virginia Car Accident Attorneys can help you. C