Virginia Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

Two years after the cause of action accrues for every action for personal injuries, whatever the legal theory.

Five years after the cause of action accrues for every action for injury to property.

The general two-year personal injury deadline applies, with extensions: one year from discovery for a foreign object with no therapeutic purpose left in the body; one year from discovery when fraud, concealment or intentional misrepresentation prevented discovery; and one year from when a diagnosis is communicated in claims for negligent failure to diagnose cancer, a malignant tumor, or certain schwannomas. These extensions generally cannot stretch the period beyond 10 years from when the cause of action accrues.

Two years after the death. If an earlier timely wrongful death action is dismissed without a decision on the merits, the time it was pending does not count (special rules apply to voluntary nonsuits).

The action must be brought by and in the name of the personal representative of the person who died. Damages go to (1) the surviving spouse, children and children of a deceased child, and, if there is a surviving spouse or children, parents who regularly received support or services from the person in the 12 months before death; or (2) if none of those, the parents, brothers and sisters, and any other relative who was primarily dependent on the person and lived in the same household; or (3) if there is a spouse and parents but no children or grandchildren, the spouse and parents; or (4) if no one in those groups survives, the heirs under intestacy law. A parent whose parental rights were terminated cannot be a beneficiary.

No statutory cap on compensatory damages in general injury cases was found. Virginia caps total recovery in medical malpractice cases and caps punitive damages at $350,000 in all cases.

Virginia caps the total amount recoverable (all damages, not just noneconomic) for injury or death of a patient in a malpractice action against a health care provider. The cap depends on when the malpractice occurred and rises by $50,000 each July 1: $2.70 million for July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026; $2.75 million for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027; reaching $3 million for malpractice on or after July 1, 2031.

Punitive damages are allowed but, in any action (including medical malpractice), the total punitive damages against all defendants may not exceed $350,000. The jury is not told of the cap; the judge reduces any larger award.

Commonwealth (state): a written statement of the claim (nature of the claim, time and place of injury, and agency involved) must be filed with the Director of the Division of Risk Management or the Attorney General within one year after the claim accrues, unless those officials had actual knowledge of it within that time. Recovery is capped at $100,000 (for claims accruing on or after July 1, 1993) or the limits of any applicable liability insurance policy, whichever is greater, with no punitive damages or prejudgment interest. Counties, cities and towns: a written statement of a negligence claim, including the time and place of the injury, must be filed with the locality's attorney, chief executive or mayor within six months after the claim accrues, unless they or the locality's insurer had actual knowledge within that time.

For policies effective on or after January 1, 2025, an owner's policy must provide at least $50,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $100,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage.

The driver in a crash that injures or kills anyone (or someone acting for the driver) must immediately notify a law-enforcement officer; willfully failing to do so is a Class 4 misdemeanor. In addition, a driver in a crash causing injury, death or damage to attended property must report their name, address, driver's license number and registration number to the State Police or local law enforcement. If an unattended vehicle or property is damaged and the owner cannot be found, the driver must leave a note and report the crash in writing to the State Police or local law enforcement within 24 hours.

Anyone involved in a crash causing injury, death or property damage — or where a vehicle involved may have been uninsured — may file a written report with the DMV Commissioner on the department's form. When such a report is filed, the Commissioner requires the vehicle owner to provide insurance or bond certification, which the DMV verifies with the insurer.

A driver in a crash in which someone is killed or injured, or attended property is damaged, must immediately stop as close to the scene as possible without blocking traffic, give their name, address, driver's license number and registration number to police and to the injured person or the other driver/occupant or property custodian, and give reasonable help to anyone injured (including taking them for medical care if needed). A driver too injured to comply must do so as soon as reasonably possible. Violating this is a Class 5 felony if anyone is injured or killed or property damage is more than $1,000, or a Class 1 misdemeanor if property damage is $1,000 or less. For unattended property, the driver must try to find the owner, or leave a note with identification and contact information and report in writing to police within 24 hours.

A negligence claim against a Virginia county, city or town is barred unless a written statement of the nature of the claim, including the time and place of the injury, is filed within six months after the cause of action accrued. The statement goes to the county, city or town attorney or to its chief executive or mayor, and is filed when received. Missing the notice does not bar the claim if the locality's attorney, chief executive or mayor, or its insurer, had actual knowledge of the claim, time and place within the six months; tolling for a claimant under a disability applies. The section does not change local sovereign immunity. State claims are covered separately (see injury/government_claims).

A Virginia landowner owes no duty to keep land safe for others who use it for hunting, fishing, camping, water sports, hiking, sightseeing, horseback or bicycle riding, or any other recreational use, and need not warn of hazards. Giving permission for such use does not represent that the land is safe, does not make the user an invitee or licensee owed a duty of care, and does not make the owner liable for the acts of users. The law does not limit liability for gross negligence or willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, or when the landowner receives a fee for use of the premises.

Virginia requires motorcycle and autocycle operators and passengers of all ages to wear protective helmets meeting Snell, ANSI or federal DOT standards, along with eye protection or a windshield. Exceptions include motorcycles with wheels of eight inches or less, three-wheeled motorcycles or autocycles with nonremovable roofs, windshields and enclosed bodies, and authorized, police-escorted parades at 15 mph or less. Failing to wear a helmet is not negligence per se in a civil case.

No Virginia statute read names lane splitting. On roads divided into clearly marked lanes, a vehicle must be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and may not leave it until the driver has made sure the move is safe. Driving abreast of another vehicle in a lane designed for one vehicle is reckless driving, but that section does not prohibit two two-wheeled motorcycles from riding abreast in one lane.

Drivers must stop (not just yield) for a pedestrian crossing in the driver's lane or an adjacent lane approaching it at any clearly marked crosswalk, at an unmarked crossing at the end of a block that continues the sidewalk lines, or at any intersection where the speed limit is 35 mph or less; drivers may not pass a vehicle stopped for a pedestrian. Pedestrians at intersections have the right-of-way over turning vehicles. Pedestrians must not carelessly or maliciously interfere with traffic and should cross at intersections or marked crosswalks wherever possible, but crossing at an intersection without marked crosswalks or between intersections by the most direct route is not negligence as a matter of law, and police may not stop a pedestrian for violating this crossing rule.

A bicycle rider on a highway has all the rights and duties of a vehicle driver unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. A driver passing a bicycle must pass at a reasonable speed at least three feet to the left, and must change lanes if the lane is too narrow to pass that way. There is no statewide bicycle helmet requirement in the section read: localities may by ordinance require riders 14 and under to wear helmets ($25 fine, suspended for first offenses), and a violation cannot be used as evidence of negligence or to reduce damages. Localities may ban bicycles on designated sidewalks; riders on sidewalks must yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing.

Virginia requires TNC insurance at all times a rideshare vehicle is in TNC operation. From accepting a ride request until the ride ends: primary liability coverage of at least $1 million for death, bodily injury and property damage, plus uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage as required by § 38.2-2206. While logged on and waiting for a request (and between rides): primary liability of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, plus uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as required by § 38.2-2206.

Virginia's Superintendent of State Police must issue commercial motor vehicle safety regulations under the federal Motor Carrier Act of 1984, setting criteria for driver, vehicle and cargo safety inspections that are no more restrictive than the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations; for this purpose a commercial motor vehicle includes one over 26,000 pounds operated intrastate (over 10,000 pounds interstate). For interstate trucks, federal minimum insurance is set in 49 CFR 387.9.

Virginia's workers' compensation law makes workers' comp the exclusive remedy against the employer. On construction jobs, an owner or general contractor that subcontracts work that is part of its trade or business is a 'statutory employer' that must pay workers' comp to a subcontractor's injured worker as if it employed the worker. Claims against other parties who caused the injury remain possible, subject to the employer's lien and subrogation rights.