Toll Free: 1 800 752 0042

Practice Areas

Firm News

View all

Library

The Virginia (VA) / North Carolina (NC) border has impact for automobile accident lawyers.

As a personal injury attorney living and working near the border between Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC) I am always mindful of the way we have to service injured clients in both states. Although some of our injured clients are only in Virginia and their cases have nothing to do with North Carolina, its amazing how often there is some North Carolina issue in a Virginia automobile accident case. Luckily for me and my clients I have a license in both Virginia and North Carolina and am familiar with dealing with the issues that come up where there is an overlap of law between the two states in a car crash case.

There are all kinds of combinations that lead to Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC) issues in an accidental injury case in this area of southeastern Virginia (VA) and northeast North Carolina (NC). For example many people live in North Carolina (NC) and commute to Virginia (VA) for work. If they get hurt on the job they have a Virginia workers compensation insurance claim even though they live in Moyock, North Carolina or some where else across the border. Another common pattern is all of the cars that we see driving around in Hampton Roads, Virginia (VA) from North Carolina (NC). If you get hit by a car from North Carolina (NC) in Virginia (VA) there are issues about how you sue and get service or subpoena on a resident of North Carolina (NC).

The insurance law pertaining to automobile accidents is different in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC). Both states have medical payments coverage instead of PIP or personal injury protection coverage on their automobile policies where applicable. However the rules about how to calculate the exact amount of coverage for instance stacking the number of cars with medical payments coverage to reach the total available medical payments insurance available in Virginia (VA) is different from North Carolina (NC). Perhaps most importantly there are different rules about the handling of under insured motorist coverage. In Virginia (VA) you can not settle the case against the at-fault driver's liability insurance and then later go after the underinsured motorist coverage in a separate direct suit against the insurance company. If you try to do this in Virginia (VA) you will loose the right to make the insurance claim against the under insured motorist coverage for failing to secure their permission to settle the liability case. This is a less good system than that in North Carolina (NC) insurance law. In North Carolina (NC) if you are in an automobile accident you can settle first with the insurance for the at-fault driver and disburse that money to the client and pay off any outstanding medical bills before suing the uninsured motorist coverage carrier if any in a direct action. The risk for the client and the unaware lawyer who only practices in North Carolina (NC) or only practices in Virginia (VA) is not realizing that the law is different in the two states. If a North Carolina (NC) lawyer is not aware of how the issue works in Virginia (VA) and tries to settle the liability case, like he can normally do under North Carolina (NC) insurance law without getting the under insured motorist carriers permission, he may seriously harm the client's rights in a major accident case. In summary you are best off with an attorney like all of us at Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis, and Appleton PC who have licenses in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC) and regularly handle automobile cases on both sides of the border.

Quick Contact

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton, P.C.
1294 Diamond Springs Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23455

Toll Free: (800) 752.0042
Phone: (757) 460-7776
Fax: (757) 460.3428

Directions