A 33-year-old Virginia Beach woman died in a crash in Suffolk, VA, early on the morning of May 22, 2022. Four other people suffered injuries when two vehicles collided in the 1900 block of Portsmouth Boulevard.
Suffolk police released few details to the press, and the cause of the crash remained undetermined into the following day. News reports do indicate emergency personnel responded to the scene at 1:34 am. Also, the individuals who survived with injuries were transported to hospitals for treatment.
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Police publicly identified the woman who lost her life as Jalisa Ashlyn Nicole Hill. Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene. My personal injury and wrongful death law firm colleagues and I send our deepest condolences out to Hill’s friends and families.
Dangers Abound Between Midnight and Dawn
We cannot speculate on why this crash occurred. We do now from decades of experience, however, that driving in the earliest hours of the morning raises risks. In addition to potentially falling asleep behind the wheel, people who take the wheel after midnight can be more likely to become distracted and experience low visibility. Others tend to speed and change lanes without checking their blind spots because they treat the road as empty.
Answers Exist for the Victims’ Many Questions
We extend our sincerely wishes for each of the people injured in this crash on Portsmouth Boulevard to recover from their injuries quickly and completely. In addition to concerns over their own health, each surely has concerns over paying medical bills and losing income from being temporarily unable to work.
Settling insurance claims or succeeding with lawsuits offers the surest way to cover the unexpected costs of surviving a crash. Similarly, a wrongful death lawsuit could provide the family of the woman who lost her life some monetary compensation.
Whether grounds for pursuing such legal remedies exist will depend on what the investigation into the Suffolk crash reveals. An at-fault driver has a legal obligation to compensate the people they injured or killed. If both drivers who collided on Portsmouth Boulevard share fault, passengers could potentially file claims against the separate policies.
Another consideration is that few drivers carry enough liability insurance to adequately compensate multiple crash victims. In such circumstances, personal injury and wrongful death claims can be filed under the uninsured and underinsured motorist (UI/UIM) provisions of the victims’ own auto insurance policies.
UI/UIM claims can be tricky. Consulting with an experienced car accident attorney will make navigating the process simpler.
EJL