James W. Boice, a 39 year old man from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, was killed as a result of the negligence of Brian H. Beck, age 28. Mr. Beck was charged with reckless driving after his Jeep Cherokee struck the Suzuki Motorcycle that Mr. Boice was on.

The motorcycle that Mr. Boice was driving was stopped at an intersection in Leesburg, VA (East Battlefield Street and at around 6:30 am when this motorcycle accident occurred. After the crash Mr. James Boice was transported to Loudoun hospital center but he died of his injuries. The funeral/memorial service for Mr. Boice (Mr. James Boice) will be on Saturday April 17, 2010 at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Charles Town WV.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Boice’s family and friends. It is important that his family retain an investigator and/or attorney to investigate this crash and gather witness statements. Unfortunately, those who drive motorcycles are often assumed to have contributed to a crash just because they operate a motorcycle. In states such as Virginia that recognize the antiquated doctrine of contributory negligence, it is important that victims’ families act promptly to gather facts about how the accident happened so as to avoid the certain insurance company argument that the motorcyclist contributed to the crash.

In Virginia, if a motorist is even 1% at fault then he is barred from recovery in a civil lawsuit by the doctrine of contributory negligence.

The personal injury lawyers at Goldberg Finnegan are experienced in combating this defense. For more information, call us at (888) 213-8140.