Richard N. Shapiro (Rick) is a personal injury trial attorney, American inventor, and international award-winning fiction author. One of his co-authored legal treatises was published in the American Jurisprudence “Trials” Law Encyclopedia.
Many states, including Virginia, allow insurance agents to offer optional “medical expense benefits” along with a standard auto insurance policy. This coverage (“med pay” for short) provides for payment of 100% of any medical bills (up to the coverage amount, usually 1,000 to 10,000 dollars per cove
There was a recent article in the local newspaper concerning Norfolk Southern Railway Company conducting a special train ride carrying one hundred people in two passenger cars behind a locomotive, to help these people understand rail safety and the dangers of railroad crossings. However, Norfolk Sou
People have a strange attitude about a dog bite injury case, but there happen to be lots of dogs in our society and unfortunately people do get attacked or bit by dogs and some of the injuries can be fairly serious-many cause permanent scars. Virginia happens to follow the common law rule known as t
A jury recently awarded a 3.5 million dollar verdict in Fredericksburg Circuit Court to a plaintiff who underwent gastric bypass surgery (stomach staple surgery) and suffered brain damage. One doctor, President of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, testified that a leak from the plaintiff’s
By James C. Lewis, HSCLA Attorney One of the clients of our firm was recently involved in an automobile collision which resulted in personal injuries to her. She had the nerve to stand her ground against Allstate’s low and unfair offer–and we achieved a nice victory for her. The careless defendant r
BY JAMES C. LEWIS, HSCLA ATTORNEY During the last five years, we have seen a dramatic surge in the passage of legislation that is intended to deprive victims of medical mistakes by the health care community from receiving full and fair consideration. These efforts have included capping victims’ righ
By: John Cooper, HSCLA attorneyOne of the key things in any injury case is working with experts. The primary expert in any injury case is the treating doctor; typically, a specialist, like an orthopaedist or a neurosurgeon. Good communication between the attorney and the treating doctor is key to su
Have you ever noticed that during some interesting cell phone conversations (while you are driving your car!) that you forget your speed? Or that those bright green, yellow and red lights overhead actually have a meaning? Well, new research is good (or bad) depending on whether you are a chronic cel
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 in
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 ballo
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 diffe
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 Virgini
