What to Know After You’ve Been Injured in West Virginia

Wonder what to know after you’ve been injured in West Virginia? Three words—lawyer up immediately. Insurance companies do not have your best interests at heart when processing claims. They employ adjusters whose sole purpose is to minimize their company losses. That means paying out as little as possible. They often sound convincingly sympathetic to your plight on the phone, but it is all an act.

Insurers want you to say anything they can use to deny liability and avoid paying your claim. Contact a personal injury attorney if you have suffered an injury in West Virginia due to another person’s negligent or intentional act. They will advise you if your case requires legal action and develop a strategy to pursue compensation for your losses and damages.

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State of Limitations in West Virginia for Personal Injury Claims

The standard statute of limitations in West Virginia for personal injury claims is two years after the date of injury (West Virginia Code §55-2-12). In other words, after two years have passed, you will forfeit your right to recover compensation for the damages you’ve sustained.

There may be exceptions made if someone is considered disabled at the time of the accident or if they are a minor. The latter may not start the two-year statute until the injured party turns 18.

Seek Medical Attention Immediately

Avoid delaying medical evaluation and treatment after an accident, even with injury uncertainty. It’s crucial that a medical professional thoroughly assess your injuries, including possible hidden ones. Their examination will likely involve the following:

• Providing a visual examination
• Checking your eyes, ears, nose, and throat
• Performing range of motion tests
• Listening to your heart and lungs
• Checking for tenderness and the need to test for internal injury
• Neurological assessment of cognitive function, signs of concussion or head injury, and assessing muscle strength and reflexes 

The physician’s examination will prompt ordering necessary testing to locate or rule out injury, including bloodwork to check for internal bleeding and imaging services, such as CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays. A comprehensive medical evaluation immediately following an accident is the first step in documenting your injuries for medical and legal purposes.

Follow Your Recovery Plan

You must follow your injury treatment and recovery plan. Now is the time to prioritize your recovery. Follow your doctor’s orders and work toward reaching your medical maximum improvement (MMI). Your MMI occurs when your condition is stabilized or unlikely to improve with or without further medical treatment. Your doctor will determine your MMI.

Don’t make and then break or miss appointments. If you skip or fail to follow through with prescribed treatment, such as physical therapy, defense attorneys may argue you must have felt recovered and require no further medical treatment.

Document Pain and Suffering

A pain journal is pertinent for proving pain and suffering. Unlike economic damages, pain and suffering are intangible losses and more challenging to prove. You must document these damages consistently and with as much relevant detail as possible. Examples of how to properly document pain and suffering include:

• Symptoms of Pain—the time, date, and duration of pain; severity and type—achy, dull, sharp, throbbing, radiating, constant, come and go, headache, and body ache.
• Methods of Pain Management—pain medications you take, including frequency, dosage, and dependency—massage, ice and heat treatments, physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and psychotherapy.
• Limited Functioning—details concerning the limited or inability to perform daily life skills, work-related duties, and activities you previously participated in, such as playing in a bowling league or golf.
• Sleep Disturbances—time, date, and type of sleep disturbances, including difficulty falling asleep, pain waking you from sleep, nightmares, insomnia, and excessive sleeping. 
• Mental Suffering—including mental anguish, difficulty concentrating, angry outbursts, sadness, chronic fatigue, mood swings, panic attacks, crying, and emotional distress. 
• Symptoms of Psychological Trauma—anxiety, post-accident depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), development of phobias relating to accident type, withdrawal from others, and flashbacks. 

The more detailed and consistent your entries, the more solid evidence your pain journal becomes. Do not dismiss documenting these damages if you expect financial compensation for them. Your personal injury lawyer will use detailed medical records, physician notes, and expert witness testimony to prove pain and suffering in addition to your pain journal.

Hire an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer

Hire a personal injury attorney with experience handling cases like yours, including experience with the insurance claims process and trial and litigation. Common injury insurance claims and lawsuits personal injury attorneys handle include:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle collisions
• Pedestrian accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Drunk driving collisions
• Rideshare accidents
• Construction accidents 
• Wrongful death

Most personal injury lawyers work for contingent fees—meaning there are no upfront costs or out-of-pocket expenses to employ their legal counsel. They only get paid if they win your case and will deduct their contingency before issuing your settlement check. An experienced lawyer is an invaluable help to injured parties in West Virginia who need to focus on their recovery while also pursuing compensation for their damages.

What NOT to Do After You’ve Been Injured in West Virginia

As there are things to do to ensure a smoother claims process, there are several things you should know after you’ve been injured in West Virginia about what not to do. Injured parties shouldn’t communicate with insurance companies, ignore medical treatment plans, post on social media, settle too soon, or represent themselves legally.

Communicate With Insurance Companies

It’s important to understand that communicating with liable insurance companies can cause problems. That friendly voice on the other line, feigning concern, has only one intent: to save their company money. To do that, they may pressure you to make a recorded statement.

The purpose of the recorded statement is to get you to say anything they can use to downplay the severity of your injuries or to deny liability. A common example of this is calling almost immediately following an accident. Insurers know that the impact of a motor vehicle accident can take several days to hit fully. Injuries, including whiplash and concussion, are common culprits. They know that.

Still, they call and ask how you feel. You innocently enough say, “I feel alright.” Then, three days later, you wake up, your neck is stiff, your back hurts, and you decide you aren’t feeling “alright” after all. They already have a recording to submit as evidence of your downplaying injury.

Insurance companies also call almost immediately because they understand that you likely haven’t retained an attorney to warn you about their antics and advise you not to make the recorded statement. It’s a shady business and can cost injured parties money. If you’ve already provided a recorded statement, speak to a personal injury attorney immediately. They’ll guide you on what to do next.

Ignore Medical Treatment Plans

Following your treatment plan is crucial for ensuring that you get the medical care necessary for a full recovery and that your claim is taken seriously. You have two years from the date of an accident to undergo all treatment necessary for you to make a full recovery. That may sound like a lot of time, but it’s not, especially concerning severe injuries.

Ignoring referrals to rehabilitation or specialist services or canceling appointments doesn’t bode well for proving injuries. Go to your medical appointments and complete the prescribed treatment.

Post to Social Media

One thing you need to know after you’ve been injured in West Virginia is that you shouldn’t post to social media following your accident. Insurance companies are notorious for stalking the social media accounts of injured parties. They hope to find any posts they can use to downplay the severity of your injuries or deny them altogether.

Posting about your accident is a bad idea. However, even an innocent post of you dining at a restaurant and smiling can be interpreted as being recovered. It won’t matter that you are at the restaurant because your parents flew in for your birthday to surprise you, and you went despite being in pain or less mobile.

If you’ve been posting already about your accident, don’t race to delete a week’s worth of posts. You don’t know if they’ve already taken screenshots. Instead, schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer to determine your next steps.

Settle Too Soon

When medical bills and other financial expenses incurred from an accident start piling up on top of lost income from missing work, it can be tempting to settle quickly. However, settling before fully recovering from your injuries is a terrible mistake. Healthcare costs can add up to astronomical quickly, and you don’t want to get stuck fitting the bill for expenses that aren’t your fault.

A personal injury lawyer will explore other possibilities for financial relief while negotiating with the defense, such as filing for some expenses through MedPay coverage, which is an optional add-on through your personal auto insurance carrier in West Virginia. Bring your auto insurance policy to your free consultation if you are involved in a motor vehicle collision.

Many also have referrals to healthcare professionals who will work with you without harassing you for payment. That is because they understand they will be paid for their services when your lawyer wins your case. If you will benefit from that arrangement, ask your attorney for trusted referrals.

Represent Yourself Legally

While you can teach yourself nearly anything by watching a YouTube video today, litigating a case in a court of law is NOT one of them. Representing yourself legally rarely works out well. Trust an experienced personal injury attorney to handle the insurance claims process or litigate your case if negotiations fail.

Compensation You Can Get After Being Injured in West Virginia

When you’ve been injured in West Virginia due to someone else’s negligent or harmful act, you may have a right to file for compensation. Depending on the nature of your injury claim, the types of damages your lawyer may recover are as follows:

• Medical Costs: Healthcare costs, including emergency services, hospitalizations, surgical and primary care, urgent care, diagnostics and imaging, prescriptions, medical devices, and future healthcare costs.
• Rehab Expenses: Expenses associated with injury rehabilitation, such as physical therapy, chiropractor adjustments, massage, orthopedics, speech and language therapy, audiology, mental health services, inpatient and outpatient care, and vocational and occupational therapy.
• Disability: Compensation for disabilities, including spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), loss of a limb, paralysis, hearing impairment, vision impairment, chronic pain, and psychological trauma, like PTSD.
• Professional Damages: All income losses sustained in an accident, such as wages, salary, tips, commissions, overtime, bonuses, vacation days, sick leave, paid time off, lost promotions, healthcare and retirement benefits, pension, and diminished or lost earning capacity.
• Property Damages: All property damaged in an accident can be recovered as economic damages in your injury claim, including vehicle repairs or replacement, clothing, glasses, car seats, fences, mailboxes, and structure damages. Rental car or rideshare services required while you are without a vehicle are recoverable, too. 
• Pain and Suffering: Your intangible losses, such as chronic pain, mental suffering, post-accident depression, loss of sleep, worsening of existing injuries, permanent impairment, shortened life expectancy, and loss of society and companionship.

Families filing a legal action for wrongful death may secure compensation for additional damages. Wrongful death damages may include the final medical costs of your loved one, funeral and burial expenses, loss of consortium, loss of inheritance, loss of parental guidance, and loss of financial support, including future earnings.

Consult a Personal Injury Lawyer

Schedule a free case evaluation with a personal injury attorney to discuss the specifics of your injury claim. Bring any evidence you have relevant to your case so they can best assess your circumstances. You’ll want to determine a strategy for recovering financial compensation.

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Jeff Robinette( West Virginia Personal Injury Attorney )

Jeffery Robinette was admitted to practice law in 1991 and is licensed in all levels of state and federal trial courts in West Virginia. Mr. Robinette is also licensed in all state and federal appeals courts in West Virginia and the United States Supreme Court. As a National Board Certified Trial Attorney who has handled hundreds of motor vehicle, injury, and construction defect claims and a leading author on insurance claims settlement issues and difficulties in West Virginia, Jeff Robinette is uniquely qualified to represent your best interest.