WEST VIRGINIA

ORAL/OPEN CONTRACTS

5 YEARS

WRITTEN CONTRACTS

10 YEARS

§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.

STATUTE OF FRAUDS

§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.

WEST VIRGINIA CONSUMER CREDIT CODE

WEST VIRGINIA UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE

§46A-5-101.

Effect of violations on rights of parties; limitation of actions.

(1) If a creditor has violated the provisions of this chapter applying to collection of excess charges, security in sales and leases, disclosure with respect to consumer leases, receipts, statements of account and evidences of payment, limitations on default charges, assignment of earnings, authorizations to confess judgment, illegal, fraudulent or unconscionable conduct, any prohibited debt collection practice, or restrictions on interest in land as security, assignment of earnings to regulated consumer lender, security agreement on household goods for benefit of regulated consumer lender, and renegotiation by regulated consumer lender of loan discharged in bankruptcy, the consumer has a cause of action to recover actual damages and in addition a right in an action to recover from the person violating this chapter a penalty in an amount determined by the court not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.

With respect to violations arising from consumer credit sales or consumer loans made pursuant to revolving charge accounts or revolving loan accounts, or from sales as defined in article six of this chapter, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than four years after the violations occurred.

With respect to violations arising from other consumer credit sales or consumer loans, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than one year after the due date of the last scheduled payment of the agreement.

(2) If a creditor has violated the provisions of this chapter respecting authority to make regulated consumer loans, the loan is void and the consumer is not obligated to pay either the principal or the loan finance charge. If he has paid any part of the principal or of the finance charge, he has a right to recover in an action the payment from the person violating this chapter or from an assignee of that person's rights who undertakes direct collection of payments or enforcement of rights arising from the debt.

With respect to violations arising from regulated consumer loans made pursuant to revolving loan accounts, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than four years after the violation occurred.

With respect to violations arising from other regulated consumer loans, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than one year after the due date of the last scheduled payment of the agreement pursuant to which the charge was paid.

(3) A consumer is not obligated to pay a charge in excess of that allowed by this chapter, and if he has paid an excess charge he has a right to a refund. A refund may be made by reducing the consumer's obligation by the amount of the excess charge. If the consumer has paid an amount in excess of the lawful obligation under the agreement, the consumer may recover in an action the excess amount from the person who made the excess charge or from an assignee of that person's rights who undertakes direct collection of payments from or enforcement of rights against the consumer arising from the debt.

(4) If a creditor has contracted for or received a charge in excess of that allowed by this chapter, the consumer may, in addition to recovering such excess charge, also recover from the creditor or the person liable in an action a penalty in an amount determined by the court not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.

With respect to excess charges arising from consumer credit sales or consumer loans made pursuant to revolving charge accounts or revolving loan accounts, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than four years after the time the excess charge was made.

With respect to excess charges arising from other consumer credit sales or consumer loans no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than one year after the due date of the last scheduled payment of the agreement pursuant to which the charge was made.

(5) Except as otherwise provided, a violation of this chapter does not impair rights on a debt.

WEST VIRGINIA "BORROWING" STATUTE

W.Va. Code , 55-2A-2 [1959] provides that
"the period of limitation applicable to a claim accruing outside of [West Virginia] shall be either that prescribed by the law of the place where the claim accrued or by the law of [West Virginia], whichever bars the claim."