A tricky point that applies when a personal injury occurs on a boat (commercial or otherwise) is whether the closest state negligence law applies, or whether federal maritime law applies. The point can be critical on many evidence issues, as Virginia still holds that contributory negligence of an injured person totally bars recovery, whereas federal maritime law only considers the injured...
Virginia and North Carolina offer special amenities to residents and visitors: beautiful oceans, bays and waterways. One of the most popular aquatic pastimes is the use of a personal watercraft (PWC), including jet skis, waverunners, waterbikes and waterscooters, representing a market that has ballooned in the last couple of decades. Unfortunately, the explosive growth has led to more...
The Federal Rail Safety Act (FRSA) was enacted by Congress in the 1970's to improve nationwide railroad safety, and to make sure uniform laws applied to essential railroad safety for trains travelling through multiple states. The idea was that individual states could not enact a hodge podge of different safety rules on basic transport of freight or as to how the railroad track was to be...
Per the Federal Railroad Administration's Web site, there have been 10 reported accidents involving trains and motor vehicles at public and private crossings in Virginia through the first three months of 2006, assuming that the statistics are correct. There have been more since March 2006 in Virginia. As rural development and new roadways cross railroad tracks, inevitably there are increased...
The highway death rate increased in 2005 for the first time in about 20 years, according to recently released federal statistics. Although more people are using safety belts and there have been various national campaigns against drunk driving, 43,200 people died in motor vehicle wrecks in 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Many of these deaths are caused by...
The news media seems to be reporting on all kinds of cases of wrongful death, serious injuries, and sexual abuse at nursing facilities. Seniors at nursing homes are so vulnerable to malpractice and poor medical care in the first place. Most states have specific statutes covering medical malpractice and actually define what is "medical care" for example.In a recent case in Virginia, the Va....
Any "crisis" that may have existed in the medical malpractice insurance industryis now reported to be officially over according to a recent study released by the non-profit group Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR). According to this report, rates ofmedical malpractice insurance coverage have seen a "wholesale collapse" across thecountry. In February, the New York-based Consumer Advocacy...