Military Members' Civil Rights Come to Fore in Recent Reports

Virginia (VA) Personal Injury Lawyers
Offices in VA Beach, Hampton & Elizabeth City, NC

All Serious Injuries

9/7/2009
Richard N. Shapiro
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Military Members' Civil Rights Come to Fore in Recent Reports

The jobs soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, Coat Guardsmen and National Guardsmen do require them to take great personal risks. These brave men and women too often get injured or killed in the line of duty.

None should face risks from their superiors or civilian colleagues, however. Members of the military do not surrender their basic civil rights to protection from intentional or negligent harm when they put on their uniforms. If anything, the men and women of our Armed Services need to have more protection from personal injury.

Why should service members not be entitled to sue if a military doctor or military hospital commits medical malpractice? Under a court-imposed doctrine known as the Feres Doctrine, an active-duty military member normally cannot bring a medical malpractice claim against a doctor working in a naval hospital, even for gross negligence. Moreover, these protections seem completely inappropriate, particularly when the problem did not occur in a war setting.

There are also various legal obstacles to bringing suits for the negligence of contractors working at military bases whose acts cause injury.

Three recent news stories brought these thoughts to my mind. The most recent involves repeated reports of inappropriate hazing and sexual harassment committed by a noncommissioned officer serving with a dog-handling Navy dog-handling unit in Bahrain during 2007. Earlier in Iraq, a West Virginia National Guard was chronically exposed to a toxic chemical used in oil drilling. The contractor placed in charge of the site where the environmental exposure occurred, KBR, has already paid out millions in settlements to its workers and other Guardsmen. It is unclear whether the NCO who oversaw sailor abuse in Bahrain ever received punishment.

Because active duty members face so many risks--and also because the harm done during military service may not show up for decades after discharge or retirement--my law firm of Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton specializes in military injury cases. We understand how to process military injury claims, and we understand motorcycle accidents involving service members. We could do no less and still meet the legal needs of such a large segment of the Hampton Roads community.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers. Lawyers with Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton are licensed in VA, NC, SC, WV, DC and KY. They handle car, truck, railroad, medical negligence cases and more.

EJL

How can you identify a top Virginia injury lawyer for your case? Look no further.

Our VA personal injury lawyers have been selected for many accolades.

Two of the attorneys with our Virginia Beach accident injury law firm, James Lewis and Rick Shapiro, have been named the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Two of our VA injury lawyers -- Lewis and Shapiro - have been named to Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury since 2010. In addition, Lewis and Shapiro have been selected for inclusion in the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009.

Our VA accident injury law firm was the first in the commonwealth nvited to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms. Rick Shapiro was named as one of the Top 100 Injury Lawyers in Virginia by the National Trial Lawyers Association.

In October, 2000 our law firm and co-counsel obtained what was then the largest verdict in Virginia's history for an injured person. Our brain damaged client received an initial award of $46 million that rose to $60 million with interest when the defendant abandoned an appeal and agreed to settle.

Geographical Areas

Our personal injury lawyers handle personal injury cases throughout the eastern USA, and work closely with lawyers in other states on signficant injury cases.

In Virginia, this includes Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, Richmond, Petersburg, Roanoke, Salem, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Ashland, Big Stone Gap, and every community on the Eastern Shore, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteauge, Wachapreague, and Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island.

In West Virginia, we can handle personal injury claims in Bluefield, Beckley, Bridgeport, Charles Town, Charleston, Fairmont, Huntington, Lewisburg, Madison, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Moundsville, Parkersburg, Ripley, Sutton, Weirton, Wheeling and any other town or county.

Injury Lawyers licensed in VA, WV, North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC.

Virginia Beach, VA Personal Injury Attorneys
Virginia (VA) Personal Injury Lawyers
Specializing in Virginia Wrongful Death & Injury Law

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Military Members' Civil Rights Come to Fore in Recent Reports

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