VA law question: criminal hurt, can he sue?

[AlanM]

Can someone sue if they are hurt while committing a felony here in Virginia?

Some years ago there was a case, somewhere in the US, in which a burglar gained access into a restaurant by crawling down a ventilation duct. He fell into a HOT deep fat fryer and was seriously burned spent quite some time in pain in hospital.
He sued the restaurant for damages.

Cases like this, where someone gets hurt or killed during the commission of a crime and then sues the owner of the target of the crime for damages, that causes the Ohio legislature to modify their tort law to prevent this.

The legalese is somewhat hard to follow but here's a link to the Ohio state law I'm talking about.
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2307.60

The interesting passages are after (B) (2)
"(2) Recovery on a claim for relief in a tort action is barred to any person or the person's legal representative if any of the following apply:"

Essentially, if someone is hurt or killed while in the process of committing a felony or a misdemeanor that is an offense of violence they are forbidden by law to sue anyone.
This includes them, their heirs, relatives, or any other representative of them or their estate.
And the wording is such that it includes persons that WOULD have been found guilty if they had survived.

What's interesting is that this was that the gun community in Ohio wasn't really aware that this change was in the works until the change in law was passed. It was a change in tort law, we were worried about concealed carry and no gun zones, so who cared?
Well, it turns out that that simple change took a hell of a lot of worry out of whether or not to protect yourself with deadly force. Granted, you could still be indicted if you used your gun inappropriately but if it was found to be a good shoot. No one could sue you.

Now for my question. Does something like this exist in Virginia law?

[smltooner]

I certainly hope so.

[WRW]

http://www.wolcottriversgates.com/blog/ ... landowner/

They can sue. Would they win?

Sorry about linking to a law firm, but they were willing to post opinion on trespass.

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[SHMIV]

I don't have an answer to this. It does remind me of a guy who I used to know, in New York, about 20 years ago.

This guy came home from an outing with his wife and children, and found that the teen son of his neighbor had broken into the house. The family dog did his job, and shredded the teen.

Later, the father of the teen sued. The dog was ordered to be put down, and the guy ended up selling his house, downgrading his auto fleet, and taking two side jobs, in order to pay off the lawsuit. I believe that the wife ended up having to work long hours, as well.

Had I been the judge, I would have tossed the @$$hole teen, the chitsack father, and that repulsive douchenozzle of a lawyer that represented them, in jail for contempt of court, for bringing that unjust nonsense into my court room. And, that dog would have lived on to the end of his natural life.

Occasionally, I wonder about that guy, and his family. I do hope that they were able to recover from that travesty of justice.

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[kelu]

This reminds me the laws in my home country, where if someone broke into your house with a 2 inch knife and you happen to grab a 3 inch knife (we are not allowed to have guns), you go to jail, for disproportionate response.

[AlanM]

This reminds me the laws in my home country, where if someone broke into your house with a 2 inch knife and you happen to grab a 3 inch knife (we are not allowed to have guns), you go to jail, for disproportionate response.

UK, I'm assuming. England, specifically.

[jdonovan]

This reminds me the laws in my home country,

Well it was the kind of place that at one time would execute those who opposed the state view and then bill the family for the bullets.

[kelu]

True. My mother uncle was one of them. Leader of the anti-communist movement.
But the laws I'm talking are from these days. Like in UK.

[HilarityEnsues]

Yes they can. When I was taking automotive classes one of my classmates had a vintage GTO stolen by teenagers, totaled and due to the lack of seat belts all 3 kids were seriously injured.,

Despite laws stating due to the model year of the GTO it didn’t require seatbelts one of the parents sued due to said injuries. I never saw him the following semester so I have no clue how it ended.

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[wittmeba]

I believe anyone can sue anyone else. Either by getting a supporting lawyer or feeling they have the knowledge to handle the procedures themselves. I don't believe there is anything in any law that would prevent a law suit.