| W. Va. Code §55-2-15. |
West Virginia has not adopted any special bright-line rules for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) cases. A victim who was a minor at the time of the sexual abuse, must file: 1) within two years he/she has attained age of majority and 2) within twenty years of date of wrongful act and injury.
Discovery and disability rule applies to all injury claims. The victim must demonstrate he or she was prevented from knowing of the claim at the time of the injury by reason of fraudulent concealment, inability to comprehend the injury, or other extreme hardship. Cart v. Marcum, 188 W.Va. 241, 423 S.E.2d 644 (1992). In Miller v. Mongolia County Bd. of Ed., 210 W. Va. 147, 556 S.E.2d 427 (2001), the State Supreme Court held that a cover-up by Board of Education was sufficient to trigger the fraudulent concealment exception.
The West Virginia courts have applied the discovery rule set forth in Gaither v. City Hospital to sexual abuse claims advanced under a discovery analysis. The Court Gaither Court ruled that
[i]n tort actions, unless there is a clear statutory prohibition to its application, under the discovery rule the statute of limitations begins to run when the plaintiff knows, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence, should know (1) that the plaintiff has been injured, (2) the identity of the entity who owed the plaintiff a duty to act with due care, and who may have engaged in conduct that breached that duty, and (3) that the conduct of that entity has a causal relation to the injury.
199 W.Va. 706, 487 S.E.2d 901 (1997). Merrill v. West Virginia Dept. of Health and Human Resources, slip op. 2006 W.Va. (32856) (Jan. 2006).
The discovery statute cannot be used to extend the 20-year statute of repose. Albright v. White, 202 W. Va. 292, 503 S.E.2d 860 (1998); Donley v. Bracken, 192 W. Va. 383, 387, 452 S.E.2d 699, 703 (1994).
Link to West Virginia Legislature's web site.
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