Virginia Car Accident Lawyers
You are treating an injury, missing work, and an adjuster has already called. What a Virginia car accident lawyer does at that stage is protect the claim before the insurance company shapes the record around it. Gray Broughton Injury Law is a veteran-led trial firm handling car accident claims across the Commonwealth and in Washington D.C. Tell us what happened.
Recognized. Reviewed. Trusted.
Many car accident claims begin with an insurance claim rather than a lawsuit. What the adjuster is weighing is whether a jury would find the other driver at fault, and whether the defense can pin any of the fault on you. In Virginia that second question can end a claim outright. Request a free consultation today to protect the evidence before it disappears.
Virginia car accident numbers that matter
129,244
Motor vehicle crashes in Virginia in 2024, per the Virginia DMV.
64,086
People injured in those crashes.
7,230
Seriously injured, the cases that change a life.
2,709
Crash injuries in the city of Richmond alone.
2 yrs
General deadline to file a personal injury suit, with exceptions.
$50K
Minimum bodily injury liability per person, for policies effective on or after Jan. 1, 2025.
Crash figures: Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, 2024 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts.
The crashes behind most Virginia injury claims
What changes from one collision to the next is where the fight over fault happens.
Rear-end collisions
Fault looks obvious in a rear-end crash and still gets disputed. Insurers argue the lead driver stopped short, had a burned-out brake light or was backing up. Under Virginia’s contributory negligence rule, that argument is worth real money to the defense.
Intersection and T-bone crashes
Two drivers, both certain they had the light, often with no independent witness. These cases turn on signal timing, the point of impact on each vehicle and whoever stopped at the scene. Getting witness names before people drive away is what decides an intersection case a year later.
Head-on collisions
Center-line crossings can produce incredibly severe injuries, usually from impairment, distraction, fatigue or a pass on a two-lane road. When someone driving for an employer crosses that line, more than one party may share responsibility.
Sideswipe and lane-change crashes
Each driver says the other one drifted. On blind-spot merges along I-64 and I-81, paint transfer, mirror damage and where the vehicles stopped do more work than either account does.
Hit-and-run
When the driver is never identified, your own uninsured motorist coverage may become the source of recovery. Reporting the crash promptly matters more than usual here, because the claim still has to prove the unidentified driver caused it.
Impaired and distracted driving
A crash caused by an impaired driver may support punitive damages, which changes how it is investigated from the first week. Virginia DMV counted 20,758 distracted driving crashes in 2024, about one in six, and 11,256 people injured. See distracted driving claims.
What to do after a car accident in Virginia
What you do in the first hours affects the strength of the claim. Insurance companies begin building a defense before you leave the hospital.
Virginia laws that affect your car accident claim
These Virginia rules can have an outsized effect on a claim. Which ones apply depends on the facts, the parties and the coverage available.
Contributory negligence
Virginia is one of the last states where fault is not divided. If the defense proves the injured person was negligent in a way that helped cause the crash, that finding may bar recovery entirely, no matter how careless the other driver was. Small facts carry unusual weight: where the cars came to rest, what a witness saw, the wording of a statement given in week one. Most law firms shy away from contributory negligence cases, we don’t. Contact us today.
Two-year filing deadline
An injured adult generally has two years from the date of the crash to file suit. The deadline can run differently for an injured child or someone under a legal incapacity. Two years sounds like a lot of time, until it isn’t.
Shorter deadlines for government claims
A claim against the Commonwealth generally requires written notice within one year, and a claim against a county, city or town generally requires notice within six months. A collision with a state or municipal vehicle puts you on that shorter clock without warning.
Punitive damages
Punitive damages are discretionary. A jury may award them where the evidence proves malice or conduct so willful or wanton as to show a conscious disregard for the rights of others, which most often comes up in drunk driving cases. Virginia caps a punitive award at $350,000, separate from compensatory damages.
Minimum insurance required
For policies effective on or after Jan. 1, 2025, Virginia requires $50,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $100,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage. A serious injury can exhaust those limits in days, which is why identifying every available policy matters as much as proving fault.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
Virginia auto policies must include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. It can apply when the at-fault driver has no insurance, carries limits too low for the loss, or was never identified. Many people don’t know they carry it. A UM or UIM claim seeks benefits under your own policy, and your insurer may contest coverage, fault and damages.
How a Virginia car accident attorney builds the case
01
Investigation
Crash reports, scene and vehicle photographs, witness statements taken while memories are fresh, medical records, and a reconstruction or medical expert when the case calls for one. The file gets built for a courtroom whether or not it ends up in one.
02
Valuing the whole loss
Not just the bills already paid. The surgery still ahead, the income lost during recovery, the earning capacity that doesn’t come back, and what the injury changed at home. A demand that leaves out future care is one the insurer is glad to receive.
03
Dealing with the insurers
The firm handles the calls, the recorded statement requests and the paperwork so you can treat. That includes your own insurer on a UM or UIM claim, where Virginia law gives the insurer a formal role in the suit.
Injuries from Virginia car accidents
What a Virginia car accident claim can recover
Compensatory damages generally include economic and non-economic losses. Economic damages are the losses with a paper trail. Non-economic damages cover what the injury took that no invoice records, and in a serious case they are often the larger number.
If you’ve been injured due to the fault of another driver, you may be eligible to pursue damages for:
- Bodily injuries and their effect on health, according to degree and probable duration
- Physical pain and mental anguish, past and future
- Disfigurement or deformity, and any associated humiliation or embarrassment
- Inconvenience, past and future
- Medical expenses, past and future, including rehabilitation
- Earnings lost because the person was unable to work
- Future loss of earnings and lessening of earning capacity
- Property damage sustained
Where punitive damages are in play, a jury states the compensatory and punitive amounts separately.
The personal injury law firm insurance companies don’t want to see
Trial lawyers, not settlement lawyers
Five trial attorneys, and we try cases. Insurers track which firms show up to court, and that changes the value of a claim from the first demand letter.
Veteran owned, veteran led
Five of the firm’s trial lawyers served: 3 Army, 1 Marine, 1 Navy. That background set the standard for investigation, preparation and accountability on every file.
Selective caseload, full resources
The firm doesn’t take every call. We accept a limited number so each client gets the trial team’s attention, not a paralegal managing a stack of files.
Trusted by other attorneys
Law firms across Virginia refer their hardest cases here, particularly brain injury trials. That pattern exists because other lawyers trust this firm’s courtroom record.
Tell our Virginia car accident lawyers what happened
The first conversation is concrete. We’re here to listen, ask what happened, how you’ve been treated and who’s contacted you. Then, we’ll give an honest assessment of whether or not we can help. Contacting us doesn’t create an attorney-client relationship.
We’re a boutique personal injury law firm, so you can expect white glove treatment and personal attention from our attorneys on every case. Spanish-language intake and paralegals are available. Our attorneys work on contingency. That means we don’t get paid unless you do. Contact us today for your free, no-obligation consultation with a VA car accident attorney.
Recent Case Results
The results below include motor vehicle cases. Every case is decided on its own facts, evidence and available coverage, and no result here predicts what another claim is worth.
$10,000,000
Gray Broughton represented a seven-year-old boy who suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost his right leg above the knee after his family’s car was rear-ended by a pick-up truck hauling a utility trailer. Gray Broughton was able to settle his case for $10,000,000 shortly after filing suit. The client’s net proceeds were structured to ensure that he can be compensated for life. He is a tremendous young man who has overcome daunting odds. We wish him all the best for his future.
$1,250,000
Gray Broughton represented an attorney who suffered a traumatic brain injury after his car was struck by a commercial vehicle. After missing a year of work and undergoing intensive therapy, he was able to make a full recovery and return to work. Gray Broughton was able to settle his case for $1,250,000 shortly before depositions.
$750,000.
Gray Broughton represented an 83-year-old woman who slipped and fell on a restaurant floor. The fall broke her right shoulder in three places; it also broke her right hip. Through his investigation, Gray Broughton was able to prove that the restaurant had not been mopping its floors properly and knew that its floors were abnormally slick. Gray Broughton settled her case two months before trial for $750,000.
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Important: This page provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes vary based on the specific facts of each case.
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Frequently asked questions
No lawyer can answer that honestly on a first call, and it is worth being careful with one who does. Value depends on the injury and the treatment still ahead, income lost now and earning capacity later, how clearly fault can be proved, and how much coverage exists to pay a claim. Severe injuries behind a minimum-limits policy are a different problem.
Take it seriously, and call before you say anything else to the insurer. Under Virginia’s contributory negligence rule, a finding that you were negligent in a way that helped cause the crash may bar recovery entirely. Insurers raise the argument here more often than in neighboring states because it works, which is why early photographs and witness names carry unusual weight.
Generally two years from the date of the crash for an injured adult, with exceptions for a child, for someone under a legal incapacity, and for claims against a government body, which carry notice requirements measured in months. Ask a lawyer about your own date rather than working it out from a website.
Your own policy generally requires you to report the crash promptly, under the notice terms written into it. You generally are not required to give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement before you have had legal advice. Adjusters call early, before anyone knows how badly you are hurt, and an offhand “I’m fine” gets quoted back months later. It is reasonable to say your lawyer will be in touch.
You may still have a claim through your own uninsured motorist coverage, which Virginia requires on auto policies and which can also apply when the at-fault driver’s limits are too low to cover the loss. Virginia also ended the option to pay a fee instead of insuring a vehicle, and registering a vehicle now requires certifying that it is insured. A lawyer can read your policy and identify every source of recovery.
Yes. A citation is not required to bring a civil claim, and the absence of one does not settle who was at fault. A traffic charge has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, a civil claim is decided by the greater weight of the evidence, and the officer may not have witnessed the crash. Vehicle damage, photographs, witness accounts and reconstruction can establish fault without one.
Symptoms that appear later do not automatically defeat a claim, but you still have to prove the crash caused the injury. What matters is the record: getting evaluated once symptoms start, describing them accurately, and following the treatment plan. Gaps and missed appointments can be used to argue the injury came from something else, or that you did not act reasonably to limit the harm.
Yes. In Virginia a seat belt violation cannot be treated as negligence, considered in mitigation of damages, admitted into evidence or commented on by counsel in an action for damages arising out of the operation of a motor vehicle. Fault for causing the crash and the extent of the injuries are separate questions. Tell your lawyer either way, because an insurer may still raise it in negotiation.