What the insurance company does not want you to know is this: their phone calls, "investigation," and settlement talk do not stop the clock.

The common bad answer is, "You've got plenty of time," or "As long as the claim is open, you're fine." That is false. In West Virginia, the deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is usually 2 years from the date of the injury under W. Va. Code § 55-2-12. If you miss it, your case can be dead even if liability is obvious.

That 2-year limit usually applies to a car wreck, truck crash, slip and fall, or other negligence claim. So if you were hurt in a Memorial Day or July 4th crash near Martinsburg, waiting while the insurer "reviews" body-cam footage or medical records can cost you everything.

Work injuries are even nastier on timing. For a West Virginia workers' comp claim, you should report the injury to your employer immediately and the formal claim generally must be filed within 6 months of the injury date under W. Va. Code § 23-4-15. A roofing fall in Berkeley County is not something to "see if it gets better" for a few weeks. That delay gets used against you fast.

A week can matter because:

• skid marks disappear, vehicles get repaired, surveillance gets erased, and employers suddenly "don't remember" what happened
• medical gaps let insurers argue you were not really hurt
• witnesses from holiday-weekend traffic crashes vanish fast

If the at-fault party is a government agency, the rules can get shorter and more technical. If flooding on a low road, a bad highway condition, or a public vehicle was involved, those notice rules matter early.

And no, being undocumented does not give the insurer or employer extra power over the deadline. The clock still runs.