BSPE Legal Marketing Podcast
BSPE Legal Marketing podcasts discuss legal issues. Entertainment only does not constitute legal advice.
BSPE Legal Marketing Podcast
Can You Sue for Punitive Damages After a Drunk Driving Crash in Virginia? - John P. Fishwick Jr.
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From Fishwick & Associates PLC - Can You Sue for Punitive Damages After a Drunk Driving Crash in Virginia? looks at how injured people may pursue punitive damages after a drunk driving crash, in addition to compensatory damages for losses such as medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering. Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. discusses how Virginia law allows these damages when evidence shows malice or conduct so willful or wanton that it demonstrates a conscious disregard for the rights of others.
The episode explains how Virginia Code § 8.01-44.5 allows a finder of fact to award punitive damages in a personal injury or wrongful death case involving a motor vehicle, and how BAC evidence, knowledge of impairment, and causation each play a role in that analysis. It also covers how Virginia common law may support a punitive damages claim, referencing Webb v. Rivers and the Supreme Court of Virginia's decision allowing a jury to consider such a claim when a driver's overall conduct was especially reckless.
Listeners will hear how Virginia Code § 8.01-38.1 caps total punitive damages at $350,000 without the jury being told about that limit, and how a driver's unreasonable refusal of testing under Virginia's implied consent law, along with a determination under Virginia Code § 18.2-268.3, may factor into a case. The discussion also touches on related topics such as cervical and spinal injuries after a crash and Virginia's last-clear-chance doctrine.
Fishwick & Associates PLC, led by John P. Fishwick Jr., Esq., a Roanoke native who earned his B.A. from Harvard College and his J.D. cum laude from the Washington and Lee University School of Law, represents clients throughout Virginia in serious personal injury, wrongful death, civil litigation, and federal criminal matters. He clerked for Chief Judge James C. Turk of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, is admitted before the Supreme Court of Virginia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court, and has been recognized by Virginia Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, Virginia Business magazine's Legal Elite, and as a Client Champion by Martindale-Hubbell.
Fishwick & Associates PLC
30 Franklin Rd SW Ste 700, Roanoke, VA 24011
(540) 345-5890