Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia

Sounds like it to me. Of course you are only giving us the facts that lead to that conclusion. There might be another side to the story. It is hard to imagine what they might be. But I'm just being cautious.

You would want to look into what laws were broken in addition to simple negligence.

The only grounds for pu nitive damages in a highway accidnet recognized by Virginia is drunk driving.

However, if traffic laws were broken that wree sufficiently outrageous, you shoujld try to make the argument for punitive damages as well.

However, you must understand that Virginia also follows the very harsh rule from the old common law of "contributory negligence."

So if the injured party is found to ALSO be negligent, then the victim gets NOTHING.

This may sound unfair. But it is the law.

So no matter how negligent the person causing the acciednet was, if the victim was also negligent, the victim gets NOTHING.

HOWEVER.... the key word is "CONTRIBUTORY"

The victim's negligence must actually, in reality, CONTRIBUTE to the accident.

If the victim forgot to brush his teeth that morning and does not floss, and maybe left the hot iron on at home, he is NEGLIGENT.

But none of that negligence CONTRIBUTED to the accident.

ONLY negligence that helped cause the accident or made the accident worse would be counted.

MOST ATTORNEYS and MOST JUDGES don't pay any attention to this point. (Judges are supposed to respond to the questions that attorneys put to them. So because attorneys ignore this distinction, judges also do not answer questions that nobody is asking.)

So you would have to fight very hard to make eveyrone remember this distinction.

NOTE: If you are talking to an insurance company, you can expect the insurance company to make up all kinds of ridiculous and nonsensical reasons for not paying.

Do not be surprised. Do not be upset. Do not be concerned. Whatever an insurance company says to avoid paying is usually completely worthless.

You will probably have to file a lawsuit to get the insurance company to stop fooling around.

If I understand you correctly the oversized truck was in the left lane and passing a vehicle in the right lane which the truck stuck--if that is the case the truck driver was negligent and liable for property damage and personal injury, if there was one.