How long do you have to file a personal-injury claim in West Virginia?

What the deadlines mean in practice

The general personal-injury deadline is the date by which you must file a lawsuit in court. Not settle. Not send a demand letter. File. After that date, the case is barred forever — and insurance companies know it.

The medical-malpractice deadline is often different from the general PI rule, sometimes shorter and sometimes paired with a separate hard outer limit. Most states also require an expert affidavit (a Certificate of Merit) before the case can be filed.

The government-claim notice is the most commonly missed deadline. If a city, county, or state entity might be liable — a municipal bus, a pothole, a public hospital — you usually have to file a written notice within days or months, not years. Miss the notice, and you usually lose the right to sue at all.

The comparative-fault rule determines what happens if you were partially responsible. Pure comparative reduces your recovery by your percentage. Modified rules bar recovery once you cross a threshold (usually 50% or 51%). Pure contributory — applied in only four U.S. jurisdictions — bars recovery for any fault at all.