Virginia Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Blog

Case Against Hulk Hogan And Son - Not In VA!

I recently blogged about Hulk Hogan and a lawsuit he filed against his former attorneys who represented him in a civil case following a 2007 accident in which Nick Hogan was the driver and his passenger a 22 year old Marine was left in a permanent vegetative state.

Neither of these lawsuits would have happened in VA. The first lawsuit alleges that Nick Hogan is liable for the injuries sustained by his passenger. Nick had been drinking and was racing against another car of his that a friend was driving. Nick's passenger was a member of his car racing pit crew and had also been drinking. In Virginia if you're found to be even 1% negligent for your own injuries then you're case is worthless. The passenger had been drinking, agreed to get into a car with an underage intoxicated driver, and he knew that the driver was likely to drive fast and possibly race (there were four friends, Nick and 3 of his pit-crew, split between two fast cars on their way to dinner), and he made the decision to not wear his seatbelt. That seems pretty negligent on the passengers part for putting himself in that position and I think a Virginia judge and jury would agree that his actions contributed to his injuries. No case, not in this great state.

The important thing here is not the Virginia law and whether it's "right" or "wrong" but that it's very easy to ruin a case before it even exists by not being cautious. If you don't wear your seatbelt and you get hit, you can guarantee your case will be weak. If you get in the car with a drunk driver and get injured, you have no case. Don't put yourself in positions to be injured with little to no legal recourse, especially not in Virginia.