Serious Injuries After a Crash in Virginia: What the Firm Sees Most Often

What types of injuries qualify for a serious injury claim in Virginia? The injuries most often treated as serious are traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, other catastrophic injuries, and injuries that cause death. No single list of injury names decides a claim.

This guide explains how each group is described, which records matter, and which Virginia rules affect the claim. It is written for adults hurt in a car or commercial truck crash, and for families of people who were seriously hurt or killed. The firm is based in Winchester and also has an office in Harrisonburg. It serves people in the Shenandoah Valley, Richmond and Henrico County.

What Makes an Injury Serious in a Virginia Claim?

A serious injury is one that causes lasting harm, long medical care, or major losses at work and at home. A claim usually looks at three things: how badly the person was hurt, how long the effects last, and what follows. Those follow-on effects include medical bills, lost work and changes to daily life.

The facts of the crash and the medical records control how an injury is viewed. The records that tend to matter most include emergency room notes, imaging results, surgery reports, therapy notes and a treating doctor’s view of future care. Injuries that look minor at the scene can grow more serious over days or weeks, which is why early medical checks help.

Gaps in treatment can make an injury harder to document. Families should keep copies of every record and bill. A simple daily log of symptoms and limits can also help show how the injury changed everyday life.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

A traumatic brain injury is damage to the brain caused by a blow, jolt or penetrating wound to the head. It can range from a concussion to a severe injury with bleeding or swelling in the brain.

Symptoms can include headache, memory loss, confusion, changes in mood or behavior, and trouble with speech, balance or movement. Some people feel fine at the scene and notice problems days later. Trouble focusing or sleeping can also appear weeks or months after a crash.

Doctors usually document severity through imaging such as CT or MRI scans, neurological exams and cognitive testing. A brain injury claim often rests on whether these tests and the doctor’s notes match the symptoms the person describes. Reporting every symptom, even small ones, helps the record show the full picture. Sudden changes at home, such as repeated confusion or new irritability, should be shared with a doctor and written down.

Spinal Cord Injuries

A spinal cord injury damages the nerves that carry signals between the brain and the rest of the body. The effects vary by where the injury sits along the spine.

Doctors classify these injuries by level and by whether they are complete or incomplete. The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation explains that each type causes motor, sensory and autonomic effects that differ by level and type. These terms matter in medical records because they describe which movement, feeling and body functions were affected.

Records often describe loss of movement, loss of feeling, and changes in bladder or bowel control. Lifelong needs can include rehabilitation, adaptive equipment, home changes and ongoing medical care. These are things a record may document over time. Virginians with documented spinal cord injuries may also qualify for DARS long-term rehabilitation case management if they meet its eligibility requirements.

Other Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries are severe injuries that cause permanent harm or need long, intensive treatment. Common examples include amputations, severe burns, crush injuries, internal organ damage and fractures that leave permanent impairment. Here, the word catastrophic is simply a description of these injuries.

Several facts help show how serious these injuries are. These include whether the harm is permanent, whether surgery was needed, how long the hospital stay lasted, and whether the person’s ability to earn a living has changed. Records from surgeons, therapists and other treating providers help explain these facts.

Photos of the injuries and a written list of daily tasks the person can no longer do can add useful detail. Keep these notes alongside the medical records.

How Truck and Commercial Vehicle Crashes Cause These Injuries

Commercial trucks and other commercial vehicles are much heavier than passenger cars. A crash with one can produce greater force. That force can cause the catastrophic injuries described above, including crush injuries and spinal damage.

A truck crash can involve more than one party, such as the driver, the company that operates the truck, or another company.

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). Under Va. Code § 8.01-38.1, in any action accruing on or after July 1, 1988, the total amount awarded for punitive damages against all defendants found to be liable is determined by the trier of fact, and in no event may that total exceed $350,000.

When a Fatal Injury Leads to a Wrongful Death Claim

The family does not file it 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. The statutes are at Va. Code § 8.01-50 and Va. Code § 8.01-244.

Family members share in any recovery. Under Va. Code § 8.01-52, damages may include the family’s sorrow, mental anguish and solace, the decedent’s expected lost income and services, expenses for care and hospitalization from the injury, and reasonable funeral expenses. Medical bills and funeral bills are useful records for these losses.

An injured person’s own claim for injuries can survive death under Va. Code § 8.01-25. That is a different kind of claim from the wrongful death action.

Rules That Shape These Claims

Two rules shape many of these claims: how long a lawsuit has to be filed, and what a driver is required to do after a crash.

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. The rule is in Va. Code § 8.01-243, which requires personal injury actions to be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues, unless otherwise provided in that section or by other statute. Some claims against a county, city or town need a written statement within six months, under Va. Code § 15.2-209. Va. Code § 15.2-209 reads: “Failure to provide such statement shall not bar a claim against any county, city, or town, provided that the attorney, chief executive, or mayor of such locality, or any insurer or entity providing coverage or indemnification of the claim, had actual knowledge of the claim, which includes the nature of the claim and the time and place at which the injury is alleged to have occurred, within six months after such cause of action accrued.” Va. Code § 15.2-209 reads: “Every claim cognizable against any county, city, or town for negligence shall be forever barred unless the claimant or his agent, attorney, or representative has filed a written statement of the nature of the claim, which includes the time and place at which the injury is alleged to have occurred, within six months after such cause of action accrued.”

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). Under Va. Code § 46.2-894, the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident in which a person is killed or injured, or in which an attended vehicle or other attended property is damaged, must immediately stop as close to the scene as possible without obstructing traffic and report the required information to the State Police or local law-enforcement agency, to the person struck and injured if such person appears capable of understanding and retaining the information, or to the driver or other occupant of the vehicle collided with or the custodian of other damaged property. The two-year period is the deadline to file a lawsuit, not to report a crash.

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