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Full-Text Articles in Law
Tort Law-Interspousal Immunity-Action For Wrongful Death Against Surviving Spouse Held Maintainable When Such Act Terminates Marriage And Neither Child Nor Grandchild Survives Decedent
University of Richmond Law Review
The doctrine of interspousal immunity, established at early common law, considers husband and wife legally one. Under this view of unity, each spouse is precluded procedurally as well as substantively from suing the other in tort. To ameliorate the harshness of this view, the Married Women's Acts or Emancipation Acts were promulgated beginning in 1844. Although these statutes removed some of the disabilities of coverture from women in all of the fifty states, the majority of the statutes, including Virginia's, did not grant one spouse the right to sue the other for a personal tort. As early as 1888, the …
Recovery For Wrongful Death In Virginia: The Effect Of "Dependency" And "Pecuniary Loss"
Recovery For Wrongful Death In Virginia: The Effect Of "Dependency" And "Pecuniary Loss"
University of Richmond Law Review
In 1968, substantial changes occurred m the statute allowing recovery for wrongful death in Virginia. The General Assembly established "dependents" as a new class of persons, entitled to recover up to a maximum of $50,000 in proportion to their "pecuniary loss." The statute also designates a class of persons as beneficiaries and allows them to recover an additional $25,000 for solace. Thus, the total amount potentially available to persons who qualify as both a dependent and a statutory beneficiary is $75,000.
Damages Recoverable For Wrongful Death, Stuart L. Craig
Damages Recoverable For Wrongful Death, Stuart L. Craig
University of Richmond Law Review
The Virginia Legislature at the 1968 session of the General Assembly amended Section 8-636 of the Code of Virginia and thereby altered drastically both the amount and the method of distribution of damages recoverable under Virginia's Wrongful Death Act.' Only the section dealing with damages and the distribution thereof was altered, but the amendment changed substantially those entitled to an award of damages for financial or pecuniary loss and the conditions prerequisite to recovery for such loss.