Tort Law

Brien Roche

This page within Virginia Tort Case Law is a compilation of cases reported by the Virginia Supreme Court and summarized by Brien Roche dealing with the topic of Streets. For more information on traffic collisions see the pages on Wikipedia.  

Streets-Cases

1973 Heller v. Virginia Beach, 213 Va. 683, 194 S.E.2d 696.

Plaintiff fell on city street; reported accident to police; police filed written report. Police acted as agent of plaintiff in substantial compliance with code, which requires written notice within 60 days.

1952 Pioneer Constr. Co. v. Hambrick, 193 Va. 685, 70 S.E.2d 302.

Plaintiff fell at night into open trench extending across city street. Discussion of duties of city and independent contractor. Plaintiff held not to have been guilty of contributory negligence, despite prior knowledge of excavation.

1943 Childress v. City of Richmond, 181 Va. 267, 24 S.E.2d 419.

Hole or depression in street which is jagged and irregular broken place, fifteen inches in length and eight inches in width and ⅝ inches in depth in larger part of its area, is indisputably harmless or unlikely to produce injury. Municipality is not insurer against all injury which may result from obstructions or defects on streets or highways.