Evidentiary Principles Governing the Admissibility of “Accident Reconstruction” Testimony In Virginia Courts, June 2008

An issue that arises frequently in personal injury case trials in Virginia courts is whether evidence from experts regarding how a collision occurred is admissible as evidence. More.

Often, the defense will hire an expert who will investigate the collision and claim to have determined that the collision could not possibly have determined in the manner the injured driver alleges.  In other cases, the defense will try to call an expert to testify that the injured driver had time to avoid the collision and the defendant therefore cannot be held liable under Virginia law.  Sometimes, the injured driver will want to rely upon expert testimony to prove that the defendant came across the center line or was otherwise at fault. 

In these and other similar situations, the issue of what type of expert testimony will be allowed into evidence and what expert testimony will be excluded can be extremely important to the injured driver’s (or passenger’s or pedestrian’s) chances of prevailing at trial. 

Roger T. Creager of The Creager Law Firm, PLLC, has published and lectured frequently on this and other evidentiary issues.  Attached is an outline Mr. Creager has prepared on the topic, “Evidentiary Principles Governing the Admissibility of ‘Accident Reconstruction’ Testimony in Virginia State Courts.”