Today's rule: barred above 50%, since 2015
Under W. Va. Code § 55-7-13c(c), a plaintiff whose comparative fault is greater than 50% of the total fault is barred from recovery. If the plaintiff's fault is 50% or less, damages are reduced in proportion to that fault, but recovery is not barred.
A real, dated legislative shift
This wasn't always the rule. Before House Bill 2002 took effect on May 25, 2015, West Virginia used a stricter 50%-bar: a plaintiff found exactly 50% at fault was already barred from recovery. The 2015 reform loosened this single degree, moving the state from the stricter threshold to the more forgiving 51%-bar used here today.
Worked example
Someone with $100,000 in damages, found exactly 50% at fault, recovers $50,000 under today's rule. Found at 51%, that same person recovers nothing — a single percentage point determining the entire outcome.
A trade-off: the same reform reshaped liability among defendants
The 2015 law that loosened the recovery bar also abolished traditional joint and several liability, replacing it with several-only liability in most situations — except for a genuinely low 25% threshold. See our full guide to how fault and liability work together in West Virginia for this distinctive, low-threshold exception.