When a Crash Causes a Brain Injury or a Death

If a family member died weeks after a brain injury in a car accident in Virginia, the questions come fast. Can the family bring a claim? A family may have one, and Virginia has a wrongful death claim built for a family’s loss.

This page explains how that claim works in general terms. Every case turns on its own medical and crash facts, so the page covers the rules, deadlines and records.

Why a Death Weeks After a Crash Still Raises Legal Questions

A death weeks after a crash can still lead to a legal claim when the crash caused the injury that led to the death. Families often wait for doctors to explain the timeline before they ask that question. A person’s condition can change over the days and weeks after the first injury, so the timeline matters. Virginia’s Brain Injury Services notes that motor vehicle accidents can cause traumatic brain injury. For an overview of these claims, see the firm’s traumatic brain injury claims page.

Families in the Shenandoah Valley, Richmond and Henrico County face the same questions. The firm’s Winchester and Harrisonburg locations serve people across the region.

Wrongful Death Is the Claim Built for a Family’s Loss

When a crash injury leads to death, Virginia’s wrongful death claim is the claim that carries the family’s losses. The statute allows an action even though the injured person has died. It applies when a death is caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default that would have allowed the injured person to sue (Va. Code § 8.01-50).

The death does not have to happen at the crash scene. A gap of several weeks does not, by itself, break the connection. The medical timeline is what shows whether the crash and the death are linked. The damages focus on the family’s losses, as the next sections explain.

Who Files a Virginia Wrongful Death Action

Family members do not file this case themselves. A Virginia wrongful death action is filed by the decedent’s personal representative within two years of the death (Va. Code §§ 8.01-50(C), 8.01-244(B)), on behalf of the family members the statute protects.

In plain terms, the personal representative is the person who acts for the estate of the person who died. Parents can share under conditions the statute sets out (Va. Code § 8.01-53).

The Two-Year Time Limit and Why Dates Matter

The wrongful death clock starts at the death, not the crash. The statute gives two years from the death of the injured person to bring the action (Va. Code § 8.01-244).

Virginia generally allows two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (Va. Code § 8.01-243(A)); the clock runs from the date of injury, not the date of discovery, with narrow exceptions.

Because the injury and the death can be weeks or months apart, write down both dates early. Some claims carry notice requirements that run out sooner than two years. The family may wish to review those dates with a lawyer early, while the facts are fresh.

Damages a Virginia Wrongful Death Claim Can Cover

A Virginia wrongful death claim can cover the family’s losses and certain bills. Virginia wrongful death damages cover the family’s sorrow, mental anguish and loss of the decedent’s companionship, guidance and care; lost income and services; medical expenses from the injury; funeral expenses; and, for willful or wanton conduct, punitive damages (Va. Code § 8.01-52).

Companionship and guidance cover the everyday role a spouse, parent or child played in the family. Lost income looks at the earnings the person could reasonably have been expected to provide. Lost services cover help such as household work, protection and care the person gave.

Medical bills from the injury and funeral costs are listed separately. The statute requires the jury or court to state those amounts specifically. What a family can recover depends on the facts of each case.

Punitive Damages and the Conduct Standard in Virginia

Punitive damages in Virginia require conduct well beyond ordinary carelessness.

Virginia allows punitive damages for actual malice, or for willful or wanton conduct or recklessness showing a conscious disregard for the safety of others, capped at $350,000 (Va. Code § 8.01-38.1).

The jury must find that the conduct met this standard. The jury is not told about the cap. Ordinary carelessness, without that awareness, does not meet this standard.

How a Death Weeks Later Is Connected to the Crash

The key medical question is whether the crash injury caused or contributed to the death. Medical records answer that question, so families should request them early.

Useful records include emergency and hospital records, imaging reports, intensive care and nursing notes, rehabilitation records, and the death certificate. Virginia’s Brain Injury Services resource notes that a doctor must make the diagnosis, so the physician’s notes matter. The Model Systems TBI fact sheet describes the multidisciplinary rehabilitation, including post-acute care, that national TBI Model System centers provide.

The other side may argue that another illness or event caused the death. The records are how each side tests that argument. The firm serves families in Richmond and Henrico County, and its Richmond brain injury crash page covers that area.

Crash Reporting, Fault Arguments and Records to Keep

Crash reporting is a separate duty from any lawsuit deadline. Virginia requires a driver involved in a crash with injury or death to stop and report it to police immediately (Va. Code §§ 46.2-371, 46.2-894). The two-year period is the deadline to file a lawsuit, not to report a crash (Va. Code § 8.01-243).

Fault questions often come up in brain injury crash claims. Virginia follows contributory negligence: if you are found even partly at fault, you may be barred from recovering, with limited exceptions. Talk to a lawyer about your facts. For more on how these questions arise, see the partly at fault brain injury claims page.

Families should keep the police crash report number, photos from the scene, insurance letters, and a written timeline of the person’s condition from the crash to the death.

Frequently asked questions