General Archives - David Marks Law

Will a prior felony conviction affect my recovery in a Virginia personal injury case?

Answer: Maybe. The rule in Virginia is that if you ahve been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor involving “moral terpitude,” then that conviction can be introduced at trial to allow a jury to infer that you are being less than truthful. Crimes of moral terpitude are those that involve lying, cheating or stealing. […]

What is tort reform?

Answer: Tort reform is variety of ideas and laws that are designed by big business and the insurance industry to limit the recovery of the Plaintiff in a personal injury case. Most commonly, we see tort reform in the medical malpractice field. Tort reform ideas include: Limiting an injured person’s right or access to a […]

What is a tort?

Answer: Tort is one of those words that almost no one uses outside of law school, except to talk about “tort reform.” But to understand what they’re trying to “reform,” you first have to know what a tort is. A tort is a wrong caused by the breach of a duty. Typically, when we’re talking […]

What is a frivolous lawsuit?

Answer: The definition of a frivolous lawsuit is one that is brought with no legal merit and little or no chance of success. Frivolous cases are those that are brought based on absurd legal theories or that have no underlying basis in fact. While the insurance industry has done a wonderful job of creating the […]

What is a contingency fee?

Answer: All of our fees are contingency based. This means that whether you owe us any money at the end of your case is contingent upon us getting some recovery for you. You may have heard these referred to before either as “no fee if no recovery” or “we don’t get paid unless we get […]

Answer: The law firm is advertising that they are taking the case on a “contingency basis.” This means that they will not take a fee if they can’t either get your case settled or win it at trial. However, it does not necessarily mean that you don’t owe them any money. In most cases, you […]

Question: Is the insurance company low-balling me? I was in an auto accident in Arlington, Virginia. I was stopped at a red light. I was hit from behind. The lady who hit me had reached down to answer her cell phone. She was driving a company car. She got a ticket for failure to stop […]

Answer: Probably not. In Virginia, have a claim against the negligent teenaged driver after an auto accident, but not her parents. This is true even if the teenaged driver was unlicensed or still driving with a learner’s permit. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule: if a drunk teenager asks her parents for the […]

Answer: No. Simply bringing a personal injury claim does not mean, in and of itself, that you are headed for the courthouse. The vast majority of cases settle without even having to file a lawsuit. However, in cases where the insurance company is unreasonable, you may be forced to file a lawsuit and even take […]

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