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Charitable Immunity isn't charitable

Virginia is one of the few states that still lets wrongdoers off the hook under the ancient doctrine of "Charitable Immunity."  Charitable immunity may have been a good idea when it was first created, but it isn't anymore.  Immunity is given to charities to protect their assets from having to be used to defend lawsuits when others are injured while the charity is doing its charitable acts.  The reasoning behind the policy is that charitable acts ought to be encouraged and giving charities immunity will further than goal.

I have nothing against the goal.  I do charitable work and contribute to charities.  They add great value to our society.  However, the time for protecting them with immunity is long past.  Why?  Because large corporations have found ways to cloak themselves as charities while doing multi-millions of dollars in business.  And, besides, these so-called charitible institutions carry insurance to protect their assets. 

The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging Virginia charitable immunity law.  Read more about this case here.

Weiner, Rohrstaff & Spivey has worked for many years on cases where this defense was raised by large institutions that injured our clients.  We hope the Jiminez v. Didlake case is the one that topples that outdated doctrine that prevents a remedy to those injured by such organizations.