Widow sues over NC trucker’s death in Chesapeake Bay plunge

By The Associated Press
January 25, 2020 | 1:16 PM

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The widow of a North Carolina truck driver who died when his rig plunged off Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in 2017 is suing for $6 million.

The Virginian-Pilot reports the lawsuit filed by Billie Jo Chen against the CBBT says the bridge-tunnel’s own wind and gauge policy should have prohibited Joseph Chen from crossing the bridge.

Attorneys with Pender & Coward, the Virginia Beach firm representing the CBBT, did not respond to interview requests from The Virginian-Pilot.

Filings in Northampton County Circuit Court show the CBBT is claiming sovereign immunity, which typically protects governmental entities from negligence lawsuits.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

By Virginia Mercury
August 22, 2026 | 8:37 PM

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies. With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track. As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates. The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH.

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