Getting Acquainted With Damage Caps On Personal Injury Lawsuits In Virginia

Filing a personal injury lawsuit can be tricky business, since there are so many different laws that you need to be aware of. After all, you'll have a difficult time building a successful case if you don't know the rules and statutes that you need to follow. That problem is compounded by the fact that many states have specific laws that contradict with the laws of other states. To help you get a better idea of how you should plan your lawsuit, here is an explanation of one specific area of Virginia law, the damage caps on a personal injury lawsuit:

How much money can you get?

The first thing that is probably on your mind is how much money you can expect to get from your lawsuit. While there are a lot of factors that will influence the size of your compensation, you definitely want to abide by the laws of your state.

What are the caps?

Luckily, Virginia is on your side when it comes to damage caps. There are no limits on how much money you can ask for in the vast majority of personal injury lawsuits. While you are limited in medical malpractice cases (maximum of $2,000,000) and punitive damages ($350,000), neither of those are likely to affect you.

This means that you can essentially ask for as much money as you like. While this may not be a valid court strategy (since you will have a hard time convincing the court that you deserve an exorbitant sum of money), you are not legally prevented from asking for millions and millions in damages.

What about the exception for medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice cases are relatively rare, but even if you are pursuing such a case, two million is still a fairly high ceiling.

That being said, there are some situations where two million may be insufficient to cover your damage. In those cases, you will likely need to rely on your insurance to cover the remainder of the damage.

And punitive damages?

Punitive damages are also fairly rare and a cap on punitive damages doesn't actually affect you all that much, even if your case qualifies for punitive damages. You see, in order to actually get punitive damages, you need to prove that the other party was negligent to a degree that was above and beyond the ordinary.

The damages themselves are not meant to compensate you, but are quite literally meant to punish the other party, as a measure to prevent them from continuing the dangerous negligence that led to your injury. For more information, visit a personal injury attorney like http://www.trammellandmills.com.


Share