2 years. In Virginia, the usual deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is 2 years from the crash date.

From the insurance company's side, they want that to sound generous. They may act like there is plenty of time, especially if you are pregnant and still being monitored for the baby. They may say: finish treatment first, wait for delivery, see how things develop, call back later. During harvest season, when grain trucks and farm equipment are moving on rural highways into the Richmond area, they know a delay helps them. Witnesses disappear. Dashcam footage gets overwritten. Skid marks wash away after flash flooding or road cleanup.

Reality is harsher. Waiting even a week can cost you evidence, and in Virginia's contributory negligence system, insurers look for any excuse to say you were even 1% at fault so they can deny everything.

The basic rule is 2 years, but some deadlines are much shorter:

• If a City of Richmond vehicle, school bus, or other local government vehicle was involved, written notice can be due in 6 months.
• If the vehicle was owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia or a state agency, notice under the Virginia Tort Claims Act is generally due within 1 year.

Pregnancy adds another trap: insurers may treat fetal monitoring, extra ultrasounds, OB visits, and ER observation as "precautionary" care. Do not let them minimize it. Save the fetal heart monitoring strips, discharge papers, ultrasound reports, and every OB follow-up tied to the crash.

If the wreck happened on I-64, I-95, Route 360, or a rural road with slow-moving farm equipment, get the crash report quickly from the investigating agency, whether that was Richmond Police or Virginia State Police.

The lawsuit deadline is 2 years. The evidence deadline is now.