West Virginia injury cases are not like injury cases anywhere else. The roads are steeper and narrower. The industries that built the state, coal, gas, timber, and heavy freight, are among the most dangerous places in the country to work. The insurance limits are low, the juries are local, and the law has been rewritten several times in the last decade in ways that favor defendants.
A lawyer handling your case needs to know all of that before the first phone call.
Robinette Legal Group represents people who have been seriously injured, and families who have lost someone, across West Virginia. Jeffery L. Robinette was born in Welch, earned his law degree at West Virginia University, and was a partner at one of the state’s largest defense firms before he moved exclusively to representing injured people. He has spent more than thirty-five years in West Virginia courtrooms, on both sides.
Call (304) 594-1800 for a free case evaluation. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
A Lawyer Who Used to Work for the Other Side
Before he represented injured people, Jeff Robinette represented insurance companies and corporations. He learned how claims are evaluated, which facts move a file, how reserves are set, and what makes an adjuster recommend a real offer instead of a lowball one.
That experience is the reason he left. It is also the reason insurers take his cases seriously. When the defense runs its standard playbook, delay, a recorded statement, a broad medical authorization, a quick offer before the diagnosis is complete, he recognizes each move because he used to be on the team making them.
Serving Injured People Across West Virginia
Our office is in Morgantown, at 211 Everhart Drive, Suite 200. Our clients come from across the state, and we travel to them when an injury makes travel hard.
We regularly represent people in Monongalia, Preston, Marion, Harrison, Taylor, Barbour, Mineral, and McDowell counties, and we handle serious injury and wrongful death cases in circuit courts statewide. We have dedicated pages for clients in Bridgeport, Clarksburg, Grafton, Keyser, Preston County, and Welch, where Jeff was born.
Cases We Handle
Motor Vehicle Crashes
- Car accidents, including rear-end, intersection, head-on, and multi-vehicle collisions
- Truck accidents, including coal trucks, gas field traffic, and interstate freight on I-79, I-68, I-77, and I-64
- Motorcycle accidents
- Uber and Lyft accidents
- Drunk driving crashes
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- ATV and UTV accidents
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims
Workplace and Industrial Injuries
- Coal mining accidents
- Oil, gas, and pipeline accidents, including gas explosions
- Construction site injuries and scaffold and ladder falls
- Logging and timbering accidents
West Virginia’s workers’ compensation system generally limits what an injured worker can recover from their own employer. But workplace injuries often involve third parties, such as an equipment manufacturer, a contractor, a property owner, or a trucking company, who can be held fully responsible outside the workers’ comp system. Identifying every responsible party is often the difference between a comp check and a full recovery.
Deliberate Intent Claims Against an Employer
West Virginia also allows an injured worker, in narrow circumstances, to bring a claim against their own employer outside the workers’ compensation system. These are called deliberate intent claims, and the standard is set by statute.
West Virginia Code § 23-4-2 provides, in part, that a deliberate intent claim requires proof:
That the employer or person against whom liability is asserted acted with a consciously, subjectively and deliberately formed intention to produce the specific result of injury or death to an employee.
Deliberate intent can also be established through the statute’s alternative route, which turns on the employer’s actual knowledge of a specific unsafe working condition. As the statute provides, in part:
That actual knowledge may be shown by evidence of intentional and deliberate failure to conduct an inspection, audit or assessment required by state or federal statute or regulation and such inspection, audit or assessment is specifically intended to identify each alleged specific unsafe working condition.
That the specific unsafe working condition was a violation of a state or federal safety statute, rule or regulation, whether cited or not, or of a commonly accepted and well-known safety standard within the industry or business of the employer.
In practice, these cases are built out of inspection records, safety audits, citations, internal complaints, and testimony from coworkers. They are difficult, they are worth pursuing when the facts support them, and they are why a fatal or catastrophic workplace injury deserves a full investigation rather than an assumption that workers’ compensation is the end of the matter.
Catastrophic Injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Burn injuries
- Amputations and crush injuries
Other Injury Claims
- Wrongful death
- Medical malpractice
- Dog bites
- Slip and fall and premises liability
- Insurance claim disputes
West Virginia Law That Shapes Your Case
West Virginia is a fault state. The person or company that caused your injury, through their insurer, is responsible for your losses. There is no no-fault auto system, so proving liability is the foundation of every case.
The deadline is generally two years. Most personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the injury. Wrongful death claims generally must be filed within two years of the death. Medical malpractice claims have their own requirements, including a notice and screening process that must be completed before suit is filed. Claims involving government entities can carry different procedures. Evidence disappears long before any of these deadlines arrive.
Partial fault reduces your recovery, but does not bar it, unless it is greater than everyone else’s combined. West Virginia follows modified comparative fault. If you are found partly responsible, your award is reduced by your percentage. If your share is greater than the combined fault of all other parties, you recover nothing. That is why insurers work so hard to shift blame onto the injured person.
Each defendant generally pays only its own share. Since West Virginia’s 2015 tort reform, liability for compensatory damages is several rather than joint. West Virginia Code § 55-7-13c provides:
(a) In any action for damages, the liability of each defendant for compensatory damages shall be several only and may not be joint. Each defendant shall be liable only for the amount of compensatory damages allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to that defendant’s percentage of fault, and a separate judgment shall be rendered against each defendant for his or her share of that amount. However, joint liability may be imposed on two or more defendants who consciously conspire and deliberately pursue a common plan or design to commit a tortious act or omission. Any person held jointly liable under this section shall have a right of contribution from other defendants that acted in concert.
What this means for you is practical. When one defendant cannot pay its share, that loss can fall on the injured person. Finding every responsible party, and every applicable insurance policy, matters more in West Virginia than in states that still use joint liability.
Seatbelt use has a limited effect. In car crash cases, West Virginia law limits how much a failure to wear a seatbelt can reduce your recovery. Insurers raise it anyway.
Damages caps apply in some cases. West Virginia caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases and caps punitive damages in most civil cases. There is no general cap on compensatory damages in ordinary negligence cases such as car and truck crashes.
Minimum insurance is low. West Virginia’s required liability limits are modest compared to the cost of a serious injury. Uninsured motorist coverage is required, and underinsured coverage must be offered. In serious crashes, your own policy is often where the real recovery comes from.
What Your Case Can Be Worth
No honest lawyer quotes a number in the first conversation. Value depends on:
- Medical expenses, past and future. Emergency care, surgery, therapy, medication, and the care your doctors expect you to need.
- Lost income and earning capacity. What you have already lost, and whether you can return to the work you did before.
- Pain and suffering. The physical toll and how long it lasts.
- Emotional harm. Anxiety, depression, sleep loss, and losing the activities that made your life yours.
- Permanent impairment and disfigurement. Scarring, limited motion, and lasting disability.
- Loss of consortium. The effect of your injury on your marriage.
- Available insurance. The practical ceiling on many West Virginia cases, which is why we look for every policy that might apply.
- Punitive damages. Available in cases of reckless, malicious, or intentional conduct.
For catastrophic injuries, we work with life care planners, economists, and medical specialists so that the value of your claim reflects the rest of your life, not just the bills to date.
How We Handle a Case
We investigate immediately. We send preservation letters for evidence that gets deleted: truck logs, engine data, surveillance footage, and phone records. We visit the scene and find witnesses while memories are fresh.
We take over the insurance company. Once we are retained, adjusters talk to us, not you.
We build the damages case. We document your medical care and, where needed, bring in experts to project your future needs and lost earnings.
We negotiate from a trial-ready position. Most cases settle. The ones that settle well are the ones prepared as if they will be tried. Jeff is a National Board Certified Trial Attorney, and insurers know he will go to court.
We keep you informed. The firm intentionally limits its caseload so that every client gets real attention from the lawyer handling the case.
Why Robinette Legal Group
- A native West Virginian, born in Welch, educated at Concord University and the West Virginia University College of Law
- Former partner at a major West Virginia defense firm, representing insurance companies and corporations
- Board certified in civil trial law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy
- AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell
- Super Lawyers designation for more than a decade
- Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms recognition
- Lifetime member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
- Veteran of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, jumpmaster qualified, serving as an artillery and intelligence officer
- Available 24 hours a day, with free consultations and no fee unless we recover
Check out our case results and client testimonials.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in West Virginia?
Generally two years from the date of the injury. Wrongful death claims generally have two years from the date of death. Medical malpractice and claims involving government entities have additional requirements. Talk to a lawyer early rather than relying on the general rule.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?
Yes, as long as your share of fault is not greater than the combined fault of everyone else. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage.
Do I need a lawyer from my own county?
No, not at all. What matters is experience with the type of case you have and with West Virginia courts. We represent clients across the state and will come to you when your injuries make travel difficult.
How much does a West Virginia personal injury lawyer cost?
We work on contingency. There is no fee unless we recover for you, and the consultation is free.
Should I talk to the other side’s insurance company? You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other party’s insurer, and doing so rarely helps you. Report the incident to your own insurer factually and briefly, and let your lawyer handle the rest.
I was hurt at work. Is workers’ compensation my only option?
Not always. If a third party such as an equipment maker, contractor, or driver contributed to your injury, you may have a separate claim against them in addition to workers’ comp. In narrow circumstances, West Virginia’s deliberate intent statute also allows a claim against your own employer.
Will my case go to trial?
Most cases settle. We prepare every case as if it will be tried, because that preparation is what produces fair settlements. If a fair offer is not made, we are prepared to try the case.
Talk to a West Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer
If you or someone in your family was seriously hurt anywhere in West Virginia, call Robinette Legal Group at (304) 594-1800. Free consultation, available 24 hours a day, and you owe nothing unless we recover for you.
Call us today to find out how we can help you.
Our Awards and Certifications
