Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Back in August our son worked at a summer internship in Boulder, Colorado. He drove there from our residence in Florida. While there, a fellow research intern from the state of Virginia (who had flown out there) asked to borrow his vehicle to go into downtown (they were both doing research up in the mountains). She wrecked the vehicle beyond repair. Besides the loss of the vehicle, my son incurred extra out of pocket expenses just to get himself and all of his belongings back to Florida. The young lady had promised (and she did this in the presence of others) to reimburse my son for all of his expenses. Neither the young lady driver nor we had "Collision" insurance, just liability so neither of our respective insurance companies would pay a dime. It is going on 2 months since the accident (although the vehicle was wrecked, no one was injured and we have submitted to her copies of all the expenses (receipts) and she has not made any attempt tp pay even a portion of it. Here is the question (and thank you for your patience): We want to pursue litigation through small claims court but we are unsure as to which state has legal jurisdiction in this matter. The quandary is that the defendant is a resident of Virginia, the vehicle that was wrecked as well as its owners are from Florida, and the actual accident took place in Colorado. All we want to know is in which state should we pursue this action? Thank you so much for all your help. It is greatly appreciated.


Asked on 10/05/09, 7:13 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Virginia would be the proper venue to bring the suit since the alleged wrongdoer resides here in the Commonwealth.Your son could sue her for up tp $5K in small claims court and up to $15K in the regular general district court, although for the latter, since the regular rules of evidence apply along with other procedural protocols, he should be represented by Virginia counsel.

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Answered on 10/10/09, 9:05 am


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