Source: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/Code.cfm?chap=55&art=2
Timestamp: 2016-09-27 11:09:55
Document Index: 180185441

Matched Legal Cases: ['§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55', '§55']

Chapter 55 | Article 55 - 2
55 - 2 - 1 55 - 2 - 1 A 55 - 2 - 2 55 - 2 - 3 55 - 2 - 4 55 - 2 - 5 55 - 2 - 6 55 - 2 - 6 A 55 - 2 - 7 55 - 2 - 8 55 - 2 - 9 55 - 2 - 10 55 - 2 - 11 55 - 2 - 12 55 - 2 - 13 55 - 2 - 14 55 - 2 - 15 55 - 2 - 15 55 - 2 - 16 55 - 2 - 17 55 - 2 - 18 55 - 2 - 19 55 - 2 - 19 A 55 - 2 - 20 55 - 2 - 21 55 - 2 - 21 55 - 2 - 22 2A - LIMITATION ON FOREIGN CLAIMS
7H - IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY 8 - ACTIONS ON CONTRACTS
WVC 55- CHAPTER 55. ACTIONS, SUITS AND ARBITRATION;
WVC -2- ARTICLE 2. LIMITATION OF ACTIONS AND SUITS.
WVC 55-2-1 §55-2-1. Entry upon or recovery of lands.
No person shall make an entry on, or bring an action to
recover, any land, but within ten years next after the time at
which the right to make such entry or to bring such action shall
have first accrued to himself or to some person through whom he
WVC 55-2-1a §55-2-1a. Ownership or possession of surface of lands after
severance of minerals not adverse to owner of
Whenever title to any minerals in land and the rights
appurtenant thereto have been, or shall hereafter be, severed from
title to the surface, the continuity of the possession of such
minerals and the rights appurtenant thereto shall not be deemed to
have been broken by such severance; and ownership or possession of
the surface after severance shall not be adverse to the interests
of the owner or owners of such minerals and appurtenant rights.
WVC 55-2-2 §55-2-2. Claim not to preserve right as to lands.
No continual or other claim upon or near any land shall
preserve any right of making an entry or bringing an action.
WVC 55-2-3 §55-2-3. Entry upon or recovery of lands by persons under
If at the time at which the right of any person to make an
entry on, or bring an action to recover, any land shall have first
accrued, such person was an infant or insane, then such person, or
the person claiming through him, may, notwithstanding such period
of ten years shall have expired, make an entry on, or bring an
action to recover, such land within five years next after the time
at which the person to whom such right shall have first accrued as
aforesaid shall have ceased to be under such disability as existed
when the same so accrued, or shall have died, whichever shall first
WVC 55-2-4 §55-2-4. Limitations upon §55-2-3.
The preceding section is subject to these provisos: That no
such entry or action shall be made or brought by any person who, at
the time at which his right to make or bring the same shall have
first accrued, shall be under any such disability, or by any person
claiming through him, but within twenty years next after the time
at which such right shall have first accrued, although the person
under disability at such time may have remained under the same
during the whole of such twenty years, or although the term of five
years from the period at which he shall have ceased to be under any
such disability, or have died, shall not have expired. And when
any person shall be under any such disability at the time at which
his right to make an entry or bring an action shall have first
accrued, and shall depart this life without having ceased to be
under any such disability, no time to make an entry or to bring an
action, beyond the ten years next after the right of such person
shall have first accrued, or the five years next after the period
of his death, shall be allowed by reason of any disability of any
WVC 55 - 2 - 5 §55-2-5. Enforcement of liens reserved by conveyance or created by
deed of trust or mortgage on real estate.
(a) Any lien reserved by any conveyance of real estate or
created by any deed of trust or mortgage on real estate expires
after the following periods of time, unless suit to enforce the
lien is instituted prior to expiration of the time period or unless
the lien is extended as specified in subsection (b) or (e) of this
(1) If the final maturity date of the obligation is
ascertainable from the lien instrument, the lien expires five years
(2) If the final maturity date of the obligation is not
ascertainable from the lien instrument, the lien expires
thirty-five years after the date of the lien instrument. However,
if the lienholder rerecords the lien instrument prior to
thirty-five years from the date of the lien instrument and includes
a copy of the obligation secured by the lien so that the final
maturity is ascertainable, the lien expires five years after the
(b) If an affidavit or extension notice executed by the
secured party or beneficiary of the lien instrument or an amendment
to the lien instrument executed by the grantor or mortgagor and the
secured party or beneficiary is recorded prior to expiration of the original period of limitation, as specified in subsection (a) of
this section, the period of limitation is extended as follows:
(1) If the final maturity date of the obligation, as extended,
secured by the lien instrument is ascertainable from the affidavit,
extension notice or amendment, the lien expires five years after
the date of final maturity of the obligation, as extended.
(2) If the final maturity date of the obligation, as extended,
secured by the lien instrument is not ascertainable from the
affidavit, extension notice or amendment, the lien expires
(c) Any affidavit, extension notice or amendment filed
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section after the effective date
of this section, shall include, but is not limited to, the
(1) The unpaid balance of the debt and interest secured by the
lien instrument;
(2) The final maturity date of the obligation, as extended;
(3) The book and page of recordation of the original lien
The clerk of the county commission shall record and index any
affidavit, extension notice or amendment in the same manner as the
original lien instrument and shall note that filing on the margin
of the page where the original lien instrument is recorded.
(d) If the lien instrument shows that it secures an obligation
payable in installments and the maturity date of the final
installment of the obligation is ascertainable from the lien
instrument, the time runs from the maturity date of the final
(e) For purposes of this section only, a lien instrument
securing an obligation which is payable on demand expresses no
(f) Nothing in this section extinguishes any lien which was
reserved or created and in effect prior to the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight. With respect to any lien
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, the lien is valid for
twenty years after its stated maturity, or if no maturity date is
stated in the lien instrument, for thirty-five years after the date
of the lien instrument.
(g) The periods of limitation created by this section may be extended only as provided in this section and may not be extended
by any other method or by operation of law.
WVC 55-2-6 §55-2-6. Actions to recover on award or contract other than
judgment or recognizance.
Every action to recover money, which is founded upon an award,
or on any contract other than a judgment or recognizance, shall be
brought within the following number of years next after the right
to bring the same shall have accrued, that is to say: If the case
be upon an indemnifying bond taken under any statute, or upon a
bond of an executor, administrator or guardian, curator, committee,
sheriff or deputy sheriff, clerk or deputy clerk, or any other
fiduciary or public officer, within ten years; if it be upon any
other contract in writing under seal, within ten years; if it be
upon an award, or upon a contract in writing, signed by the party
to be charged thereby, or by his agent, but not under seal, within
ten years; and if it be upon any other contract, express or
implied, within five years, unless it be an action by one party
against his copartner for a settlement of the partnership accounts,
or upon accounts concerning the trade or merchandise between
merchant and merchant, their factors or servants, where the action
of account would lie, in either of which cases the action may be
brought until the expiration of five years from a cessation of the
dealings in which they are interested together, but not after.
§55-2-6a. Deficiencies, injuries or wrongful death resulting from
any improvements to or survey of real property;
No action, whether in contract or in tort, for indemnity or
otherwise, nor any action for contribution or indemnity to recover
damages for any deficiency in the planning, design, surveying,
observation or supervision of any construction or the actual
construction of any improvement to real property, or the actual
surveying of real property, or, to recover damages for any injury
to real or personal property, or, for an injury to a person or for
bodily injury or wrongful death arising out of the defective or
unsafe condition of any improvement to real property, or the survey
of real property, may be brought more than ten years after the
performance or furnishing of the services or construction. However,
the above period is tolled according to section twenty-one of this
article. The period of limitation provided in this section does
not commence until the improvement to the real property, or the
survey of the real property in question has been occupied or
accepted by the owner of the real property, whichever occurs first.
WVC 55-2-7 §55-2-7. Actions on bonds of personal representatives and
The right of action upon the bond of an executor,
administrator, guardian, curator or committee, or of a sheriff
acting as such, shall be deemed to have first accrued as follows:
Upon a bond of a guardian or curator of a ward, from the time of
the ward's attaining the age of eighteen years, or from the
termination of the guardian's or curator's office, whichever shall
happen first; and upon the bond of any personal representative of
a decedent or committee of an insane person, the right of action of
a person obtaining execution against such representative or
committee, or to whom payment or delivery of estate in the hands of
such representative or committee shall be ordered by a court acting
upon his account, shall be deemed to have first accrued from the
return day of such execution, or from the time of the right to
require payment or delivery upon such order, whichever shall happen
first. And as to any suit against such fiduciary himself, or his
representative, which could have been maintained if he had given no
bond, there shall be no other limitation than would exist if the
preceding section were not passed. Where any such fiduciary, or
any other fiduciary, has settled an account under the provisions of
article four, chapter forty-four of this code, a suit to hold such
fiduciary or his sureties liable for any balance stated in such
account to be in his hands shall be brought within ten years after
the account has been confirmed. The right to recover money paid
under fraud or mistake shall be deemed to accrue, both at law and
in equity, at the time such fraud or mistake is discovered, or by the exercise of due diligence ought to have been discovered.
WVC 55-2-8 §55-2-8. Acknowledgment by new promise.
If any person against whom the right shall have so accrued on
an award, or on any such contract, shall by writing signed by him
or his agent promise payment of money on such award or contract,
the person to whom the right shall have so accrued may maintain an
action or suit for the moneys so promised within such number of
years after such promise as it might originally have been
maintained within upon the award or contract, and the plaintiff may
either sue on such a promise, or on the original cause of action,
and in the latter case, in answer to a plea under the sixth
section, may, by way of replication, state such promise, and that
such action was brought within such number of years thereafter; but
no promise, except by writing as aforesaid, shall take any case out
of the operation of the said sixth section, or deprive any party of
the benefit thereof. An acknowledgment in writing as aforesaid,
from which a promise of payment may be implied, shall be deemed to
be such promise within the meaning of this section.
WVC 55-2-9 §55-2-9. Effect of acknowledgment by personal representative or
joint contractor.
No acknowledgment or promise by any personal representative of
a decedent, or by one of two or more joint contractors, shall
charge the estate of such decedent, or charge any other of such
contractors, in any case in which, but for such acknowledgment or
promise, the decedent's estate or another contractor could have
been protected under the sixth section of this article.
WVC 55-2-10 §55-2-10. Effect of devise for payment of debts.
No provision in the will of any testator devising his real
estate, or any part thereof, subject to the payment of his debts,
or charging the same therewith, shall prevent this article from
operating against such debts, unless it plainly appear to be the
testator's intent that it shall not so operate.
WVC 55-2-11 §55-2-11. Action or scire facias on recognizance.
Every action or scire facias upon a recognizance shall, if it
be not a recognizance of bail, be commenced within ten years next
after the right to bring the same shall have first accrued; and, if
it be a recognizance of bail, within three years after the right to
bring the same shall have first accrued.
WVC 55-2-12 §55-2-12. Personal actions not otherwise provided for.
Every personal action for which no limitation is otherwise
prescribed shall be brought: (a) Within two years next after the
right to bring the same shall have accrued, if it be for damage to
property; (b) within two years next after the right to bring the
same shall have accrued if it be for damages for personal injuries;
and (c) within one year next after the right to bring the same
shall have accrued if it be for any other matter of such nature
that, in case a party die, it could not have been brought at common
law by or against his personal representative.
WVC 55-2-13 §55-2-13. Foreign judgments and decrees.
Every action or suit upon a judgment or decree rendered in any
other state or country shall be barred, if by the laws of such
state or country such action or suit would there be barred, and the
judgment or decree be incapable of being otherwise enforced there. And whether so barred or not, no action against a person who shall
have resided in this state during the ten years next preceding such
action shall be brought upon any such judgment or decree rendered
more than ten years before the commencement of such action.
WVC 55-2-14 §55-2-14. Suit to repeal land grant.
A bill in equity to repeal, in whole or in part, any grant of
land by this state or of the state of Virginia, shall be brought
within ten years next after the date of such grant, and not after.
§55‑2‑15. Special and general savings as to persons under disability. (a) A personal action for damages resulting from sexual assault or sexual abuse of a person who was an infant at the time of the act or acts alleged, shall be brought against the perpetrator of the sexual assault or abuse within four years after reaching the age of majority or within four years after discovery of the sexual assault or sexual abuse, whichever is longer. (b) If any person to whom the right accrues to bring any personal action other than an action described in subsection (a) of this section, suit or scire facias, or any bill to repeal a grant, shall be, at the time the same accrues, an infant or insane, the same may be brought within the like number of years after his or her becoming of full age or sane that is allowed to a person having no such impediment to bring the same after the right accrues, or after such acknowledgment as is mentioned in section eight of this article, except that it shall in no case be brought after twenty years from the time when the right accrues. WVC 55-2-15 §55-2-15. General saving as to persons under disability.
If any person to whom the right accrues to bring any such
personal action, suit or scire facias, or any such bill to repeal
a grant, shall be, at the time the same accrues, an infant or
insane, the same may be brought within the like number of years
after his becoming of full age or sane that is allowed to a person
having no such impediment to bring the same after the right
accrues, or after such acknowledgment as is mentioned in section
eight of this article, except that it shall in no case be brought
after twenty years from the time when the right accrues.
WVC 55-2-16 §55-2-16. Death before right to sue.
If a person die before the time at which any right mentioned
in this article would have accrued to him if he had continued
alive, and there be an interval of more than five years between the
death of such person and the qualification of his personal
representative, such personal representative shall, for the
purposes of this article, be deemed to have qualified on the last
day of such five years.
WVC 55-2-17 §55-2-17. When suit prevented by defendant; actions on foreign
Where any such right as is mentioned in this article shall
accrue against a person who had before resided in this state, if
such person shall, by departing without the same, or by absconding
or concealing himself, or by any other indirect ways or means,
obstruct the prosecution of such right, or if such right has been
or shall be hereafter obstructed by war, insurrection or rebellion,
the time that such obstruction may have continued shall not be
computed as any part of the time within which the said right might
or ought to have been prosecuted. But if another person be jointly
or severally liable with the person so obstructing the prosecution
of such right, and no such obstruction exist as to him, the
exception contained in this section as to the person so absconding
shall not apply to him in any action or suit brought against him to
enforce such liability. And upon a contract which was made and was
to be performed in another state or country, by a person who then
resided therein, no action shall be maintained after the right of
action thereon is barred either by the laws of such state or
country or by the laws of this state.
WVC 55 - 2 - 18 §55-2-18. Extension of period for new action after dismissal or reversal where the action is timely filed.
(a) For a period of one year from the date of an order
dismissing an action or reversing a judgment, a party may refile
the action if the initial pleading was timely filed and: (i) The
action was involuntarily dismissed for any reason not based upon
the merits of the action; or (ii) the judgment was reversed on a
ground which does not preclude a filing of new action for the same
(b) For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, a
dismissal not based upon the merits of the action includes, but is
(1) A dismissal for failure to post an appropriate bond; (2) A dismissal for loss or destruction of records in a former
(3) A dismissal for failure to have process timely served,
whether or not the party is notified by the court of the pending
WVC 55-2-19 §55-2-19. Application of statute of limitation to state.
Every statute of limitation, unless otherwise expressly
provided, shall apply to the state.
WVC 55-2-19a §55-2-19a. Collection of taxes due state or any subdivision
Every action or process to collect any tax (other than ad
valorem tax on real or personal property and the taxes administered
under the provisions of article ten, chapter eleven of this code),
interest and penalty due the state or any subdivision thereof shall
be brought or issued within five years next after the date on which
the taxpayer is required by the statute or ordinance imposing the
tax, interest and penalty to file a return and pay the tax due
thereunder, unless a different limitation is specifically
prescribed by such statute or ordinance. The limitation provided
by this section shall likewise apply to enforcement of the lien, if
any, securing the payment of such tax, interest and penalty, but
shall not apply in event of fraud or in event the taxpayer wholly
fails to file the return required by the statute or ordinance
The official of the state or any subdivision thereof who is
charged with the duty of collecting any tax, interest and penalty,
the collection of which is affected by the limitation hereinbefore
provided, may, before the running of the five-year period of such
limitation has been completed, enter into a written agreement with
the taxpayer consenting to an extension of such period for an
additional period of not to exceed two years, and any action or
process may be brought or issued to collect such tax, interest and
penalty at any time prior to the expiration of the period so agreed
upon. The period so agreed upon may be extended for additional
periods not in excess of two years each by subsequent agreements in writing made before the expiration of the period previously agreed
The provisions of this section as hereby amended shall apply
to tax periods ending on or after the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred seventy-eight, and the provisions of this
section as in effect prior to the enactment hereof shall apply to
tax periods ending before said date.
WVC 55-2-20 §55-2-20. Limitations applicable to proceedings pending or rights
of action accruing before effective date of code.
No action, suit, scire facias, or other proceeding, which may
be pending on the day before this code takes effect, or the right
to prosecute which, under the laws in force on that day, shall have
accrued before that day, shall be barred by this article, any
further or otherwise than as follows: The same, if pending on that
day, shall be subject to such limitation as it would have been
subject to if this code had not been enacted, and where not so
pending, if the right to prosecute the same shall exist on that
day, for a certain number of years prescribed by any statute, the
same, or such other action as may be substituted therefor by this
code, may be prosecuted within such time as the same might have
been prosecuted if this article had not been enacted, and not
after; and where not so pending, if the right to prosecute the same
shall exist on that day, in the case in which no certain number of
years shall have been prescribed therefor by statute, the same, or
such other action as may be substituted therefor by this code, may
be prosecuted within such time as the same would have to be
prosecuted if the right to bring it had accrued on the next day
after this code takes effect.
§55-2-21. Statutes of limitation tolled on claims assertible in civil actions when actions commence. (a) After a civil action is commenced, the running of any statute of limitation is tolled for, and only for, the pendency of that civil action as to any claim that has been or may be asserted in the civil action by counterclaim, whether compulsory or permissive, or cross-claim : Provided, That if a permissive counterclaim would be barred but for the provisions of this section, the permissive counterclaim may be asserted only in the action tolling the statute of limitations under this section. This section shall be deemed to toll the running of any statute of limitation with respect to any claim for which the statute of limitation has not expired on the effective date of this section, but only for so long as the action tolling the statute of limitations is pending. (b) Any defendant who desires to file a third-party complaint shall have one hundred eighty days from the date of service of process of the original complaint, or the time remaining on the applicable statute of limitations, whichever is longer, to bring any third-party complaint against any non-party person or entity: Provided, That any new party brought into litigation by a third-party complaint shall be afforded, from the date of service of process of the third-party complaint, an additional 180-day period, or the remaining statute of limitations period, whichever is longer, to file any third-party complaint of its own, and any applicable statute of limitation shall be tolled during this time period. (c) For purposes of this section, the term “third-party complaint” means a claim brought by a defendant against any person or entity that was not originally a party to the underlying civil action, where the new claim is made a part of the underlying civil action. (d) This section tolls the running of any statute of limitation with respect to any claim for which the statute of limitation has not expired on the effective date of this section, but only for so long as the action tolling the statute of limitations is pending. This section does not limit the ability of a court to use the doctrine of equitable tolling or the discovery rule to toll the statute of limitations in any action, including any third-party complaint that would otherwise be subject to subsection (b) of this section. WVC 55-2-21 §55-2-21. Statutes of limitation tolled on claims assertible in
civil actions when actions commence.
After a civil action is commenced, the running of any statute
of limitation shall be tolled for, and only for, the pendency of
that civil action as to any claim which has been or may be asserted
therein by counterclaim, whether compulsory or permissive,
cross-claim or third-party complaint: Provided, That if any such
permissive counterclaim would be barred but for the provisions of
this section, such permissive counterclaim may be asserted only in
the action tolling the statute of limitations under this section. This section shall be deemed to toll the running of any statute of
limitation with respect to any claim for which the statute of
limitation has not expired on the effective date of this section,
but only for so long as the action tolling the statute of
limitations is pending.
WVC 55-2-22 §55-2-22. Effect of bankruptcy.
The running of any statute of limitation shall be tolled for
any claim or cause of action for which the prosecution of the same
within the period of limitation has been stayed by the provisions
of the United States bankruptcy code or by an order entered in a
bankruptcy proceeding pending the duration of the stay or the
effective period of the order and for a period thereafter of the
remaining period of limitation or for one year, whichever is