If you are hurt in a car wreck in Virginia (VA), you may be forced to consider bankruptcy because of the huge medical bills and the loss of your job or wages because of the injury. As a Virginia Beach personal injury lawyer, unfortunately this has happened to many of my clients in auto accidents over the past 20 years. Nobody wants to file bankruptcy, but sometimes there is no choice especially after a serious injury in an accident. The bankruptcy does not prevent you from getting money for your injury from the insurance company in a Virginia car crash claim.
If you have an ongoing personal injury claim or lawsuit and are considering bankruptcy, you need to tell your injury lawyer as soon as possible what’s going on with you financially. Your attorney can help you to find a good bankruptcy lawyer and stay in touch so that your car crash case and the bankruptcy case are handled properly. In Virginia there is an exemption for the proceeds of the personal injury case, so that if properly listed in the bankruptcy case the injured person gets to keep the money from the personal injury case even though they went into bankruptcy. This rule varies in different states.
Generally, the value of your personal injury lawsuit in Virginia is not affected too much by a bankruptcy even one that cancels the obligation to pay back the health care providers who rendered treatment. The Virginia case law allows the injury attorney to put into evidence the amount of the medical bills, even if those medical bills were wiped out in bankruptcy, as an indication of the amount of pain and suffering that the person went through after the car wreck. However, to make sure that the bankruptcy does not mess up your personal injury case it’s critical that you have a competent, experienced lawyer who knows their way through these issues, and that you communicate fully with that lawyer about your financial situation.
About the editors: The motto at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharplaw firm is simple –“All we do is injury law.” We hope you were able to find the answer to your injury query. If not, please review our Virginia Accident Lawyer FAQ Library for additional information. If you’d like to speak to an actual attorney about your potential injury claim for free, please contact our office at (833) 997-1774.