Virginia Beach, VA Lawyers Report – Victims of DUI Drivers Can Claim More
By John Cooper, Virginia Beach Personal Injury Attorney
According to neighbors of David Yancy, the woman who climbed out of a pickup truck after she hit the father and his kids, was stumbling and disorientated and couldn’t walk in a straight line.
The report came from the Virginian-Pilot and the neighbors had just witnessed something they said they never wanted to see again-
Yancy and three of his children were lying in the driveway of their home in Chester Street, Virginia Beach, on the morning of Jan. 19, 2012 . They had been hit by a pickup truck that, according to police reports, swerved around a school bus that had its warning lights on, and hit the family.
A five-year-old is the most seriously injured victim. He was flown by Nightingale to Sentara Norfolk then transferred to CHKD. According to media reports he is being treated for a serious head injury, with bleeding on the brain.
The 43-year-old driver has been charged with DUI-second offense, reckless passing of a school bus and three charges of maiming as a result of driving while intoxicated.
As experienced Virginia Beach, VA car and truck accident injury lawyers, we are appalled by this incident and our thoughts are with the victims at this time.
If this driver was found to be intoxicated she can expect to face the full force of the criminal and the civil law. If the victims file a car insurance injury claim against her they may be entitled to additional damages, if she was driving under the influence of alcohol.
Under Virginia law a victim can receive additional money known as punitive damages, if they have been injured by a drunk driver.
In a VA personal injury case these damages may be awarded to punish the wrongdoer and to deter others from acting in this way.
Awards in DUI cases can be large. In 2011 the families of four people killed by a DUI trucker in West Virginia (WV) received $2.69 million. VA law has a cap or maximum amount of $350,000.00 no matter how bad the driver’s recklessness.
I have been involved in many cases in which I have fought for the victims of drunken drivers. Despite the outcry over tragedies like this one in Virginia Beach, the heartache caused by DUI drivers goes on. This family should definitely call an experienced accident lawyer to help deal with the legal and insurance issues from this terrible wreck.
DM
The Norfolk and Virginia Beach based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles car, truck, and motorcycle injuries as well as brain injury, wrongful death, railroad workers’ injuries (FELA) mesothelioma and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010 and has been a member since 2011 of the Multimillion dollar Advocates Roundtable. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us (757) 455 -0077. For a free consultation with a specialized Hampton Roads, Virginia personal injury lawyer contact us through this website
