As of today, if you have been injured in the Commonwealth by (1) a physician; (2) a nursing home; (3) or some other kind of accident (car, etc.), you have a right to file a lawsuit. In malpractice cases, you cannot file and serve the lawsuit until you have experts willing to state that the nursing home or doctor was negligent.
Today, March 1, 2010, if you were to file a suit in Virginia, it would cost you around $240 to file the suit and have it served. Even if you ask for $1,000,000, it still costs around a few hundred dollars.
Why? Because everyone knows there are precious few lawsuits in Virginia where plaintiffs get what they ask for in the lawsuit.
There is however, a bill before our General Assembly, that would increase the cost of filing a lawsuit to around $1,000 if you ask for more than $1,000,000.
Now, how many injured, out of work, victims of malpractice do you know have $1000 to file a lawsuit? NONE.
That means attorneys will be asked to cover the fee, until the case ends. This is ok, but the Virginia State Bar requires that clients be responsible for all costs of litigation, not attorneys, so if the case is not decided in plaintiff’s favor, they have to repay the attorney.
If you win your case, and had to pay $1000 to file the suit, at the end of the suit, you owe the attorney his/her fees, all costs of litigation, medical liens, and very little will be left for your actual pain and suffering.
I worry that this increase will discourage very worthy people of accessing the courts, their constitutional right.
What do you think? Let your State Senators and members of the House know your opinion on Senate Bill 329.