Authored by: Randall Appleton
As an attorney living in Portsmouth, Virginia, I have noticed in our local papers that serious motor vehicle wrecks occur on a regular basis in all the Tidewater cities: Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk and Chesapeake.
An important point for passengers in vehicles involved in such wrecks is that they often have two potential claims for damages arising from car wrecks. The first, and most obvious, is the claim against the driver of the other vehicle. Sometimes the other vehicle leaves the scene of the collision without any exchange of information. If the other driver was negligent and left the scene unidentified, a passenger has a potential claim under his or her uninsured motorist coverage as well as that of the driver.
Another source of recovery for passengers is a claim against their driver. When a passenger is injured as a result of the driver’s negligence, the driver’s liability coverage should afford coverage to the driver’s passengers. So, in the event a passenger of a vehicle is injured in an automobile collision, he or she should fully evaluate all the avenues of protection they are provided by the insurance coverage of the driver of the other vehicle, the appropriate uninsured motorists provisions of their driver’s automobile insurance policy, and their driver’s automobile insurance policy, in the event the passenger’s driver’s action caused or contributed to the wreck.
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.
Comments for this article are closed.