Personal Injury Law FAQs

At the scene, exchange insurance and contact information with the other driver. Take a picture of damages to both vehicles, tire marks or road debris. Get the contact information of any witnesses. Next, notify your insurance company about the accident and provide the other driver's details. To protect your rights, do not speak to the other driver's insurance company without speaking first to an attorney.

In Virginia and Washington, D.C., personal injury law rests on four key points: that you were owed a duty of care (i.e., that a car must stop at a red light), that duty was breached, the breach caused your injury, and you suffered damages as a result. To be successful, your case will have to show evidence of your damages, such as medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and evidence that the other party's negligence caused your injuries. As highly-experienced personal injury lawyers, we at Frei, Mims and Perushek can usually provide a reliable assessment of the validity of your claim in the initial consultation, which is complimentary.

Personal injury cases arise from the negligence of others and allow you to recover all damages caused by that negligence, such as: medical expenses incurred and anticipated; loss of income incurred and anticipated; loss of earning capacity; pain and suffering; disfigurement; property damages; and, expenses necessary to enable you to live comfortably with your injuries. Damages may also include losses of "enjoyment,' like when you might lose the ability to go bowling, read, play an instrument, or play with your grandchildren.

In Virginia, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of the negligent act. There are exceptions, such as in cases involving a minor and in medical malpractice cases. For example, in a failure to diagnose cancer case, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of the misdiagnosis or one year from the date you learned of the diagnosis, whichever is longer. The "continuous treatment rule" could extend the timeline for multiple years.

Many factors impact whether a case is going to resolve in a settlement or a jury trial.
Valid personal injury cases with experienced lawyers representing the parties on both sides typically settle. However, there are no hard and fast rules.

Virginia has strict contributory negligence law. This means if a party is found to be even fractionally at fault, they are barred from receiving any compensation. Put differently, Virginia’s rule stipulates that a victim can recover damages only if they were zero percent at fault.This rule can drastically impact accident victims, as any level of fault attributed to the victim, regardless of how minor it may seem, disallows them from recovering any damages. It highlights the importance of engaging skilled and knowledgeable attorneys like Frei, Mims and Perushek to protect you and to navigate the complexities of Virginia’s contributory negligence rule.

This depends on the nature of the case. In a case where liability is clear and other facts are undisputed, the case could settle in a short period of time, like a couple of months. When liability and /or the extent of injury or damages is contested, resolution will take longer. In more complex cases, like medical malpractice and products liability handled by our firm cases will involve a series of pre-trial actions and consume more time. Virginia courts strive to have courses set for trial within one year from when the lawsuit is filed.

Our firm has been practicing personal injury law since the early 1980's. Managing partner Gary B. Mims and partner Steve Frei are among Virginia's most experienced personal injury attorneys, having successfully resolved hundreds of cases over the past 40 years. Partners Matt Perushek and Matt Roberson both bring more than a decade of experience in successfully managing personal injury cases.

Our firm represents those who have been seriously injured through the negligence of others, including medical malpractice, defective products, serious car and truck accidents, and premises liability.

Excellent. We place a great deal of emphasis on thoroughly evaluating a case before we agree to represent a client. This evaluation, where we fully examine the incident, the injuries, all of the evidence and applicable law, is how we decide which cases we will accept. Secondly, we believe that there is no substitute for thorough preparation — we exhaustively prepare your case. Third, we put the full resources of our team behind each case, so no one case is dependent upon the talent of a single attorney. This approach has earned us great success for our clients.

Yes. Partner Gary B. Mims has unparalleled experience in dealing with both -- he spent the first 20 years of his career as a defense attorney, defending the same type of cases he now pursues on behalf of plaintiffs. Partner Matt Roberson also started his career at a leading insurance defense firm, representing insurance companies and their insured. We know how this works.

At Frei, Mims and Perushek, we only take cases that have merit and we believe we can win. The initial consultation is the start of that legal analysis and it is always free of charge.

It's unwise to post on social media because everything you post could become part of your case, and not always in a positive way.

Personal injury cases arise from the negligence of others and allow you to recover all damages caused by that negligence, such as: medical expenses incurred and anticipated; loss of income incurred and anticipated; loss of earning capacity; pain and suffering; disfigurement; property damages; and, expenses necessary to enable you to live comfortably with your injuries. Damages may also include losses of "enjoyment,' like when you might lose the ability to go bowling, read, play an instrument, or play with your grandchildren.

Virginia has strict contributory negligence law. This means if a party is found to be even fractionally at fault, they are barred from receiving any compensation. Put differently, Virginia’s rule stipulates that a victim can recover damages only if they were zero percent at fault.This rule can drastically impact accident victims, as any level of fault attributed to the victim, regardless of how minor it may seem, disallows them from recovering any damages. It highlights the importance of engaging skilled and knowledgeable attorneys like Frei, Mims and Perushek to protect you and to navigate the complexities of Virginia’s contributory negligence rule.

In a routine automobile accident personal injury case, at our firm the stages are fairly predictable: 1) an initial consultation where the plaintiff explains the details of their case; 2) our legal analysis if the case has merit and we believe we can win; 3) filing the lawsuit; 4) setting the case for trial; 5) the discovery process including interrogatories and depositions; 6) preparing the case for trial. Once the trial date is set, a routine car accident case may move more quickly to settlement.