Wyoming injury rights, deadlines, and help

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This page is for after you are safe.

This page covers Wyoming injury deadlines and what to do right now. We are the injured person's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves. Always free. Talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

The deadlines that matter in Wyoming

Personal injury lawsuit: 4 years. Wyoming gives you four years to file most personal injury lawsuits. This is called the statute of limitations (the legal deadline to file a lawsuit). The rule appears in Wyoming Statute 1-3-105. Read the statute.

Work injury, reporting: 72 hours, then 10 days. Two report deadlines, back to back. Report the injury to your employer within 72 hours of the injury becoming apparent. Then file an injury report with your employer and the state division within 10 days. Late reporting triggers a nasty penalty: the law presumes your claim should be denied, and you can overcome that presumption only with clear and convincing evidence, a high bar. The rule appears in Wyoming Statute 27-14-502. Read the statute.

Work injury, filing the claim: 1 year. The injury report is not the claim. You must also file the claim for benefits, generally within one year from the date of injury, or within one year of discovery for injuries that were not readily apparent. People miss this because they assume the 10-day report started their claim. It did not. The rule appears in Wyoming Statute 27-14-503. Read the statute.

Injured by a government entity: 2 years to claim, then 1 year to sue. Under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, present an itemized, signed written claim to the governmental entity within two years of the incident. The claim must meet the signature and certification requirements of the Wyoming Constitution, and courts treat getting that right as a requirement for going forward. After you file the claim, your lawsuit must be filed within one year. The rules appear in Wyoming Statutes 1-39-113 and 1-39-114. Read the claim rule and the suit deadline.

Warning: don't wait! The 72-hour work-injury report is a trap, measured in hours, not months. Miss it and the law presumes your claim should be denied, and waiting kills cases. The longer you wait, the fuzzier memories get and documents get lost. Collect and save what you can, then talk to an advocate immediately. And important: medical claims can have different, often shorter deadlines and extra requirements. Do not assume the standard rule covers a hospital or doctor case.

Protect your case

If it happened at work, report it before anything else can wait. You have 72 hours, and using them all is a risk.
File the 10-day injury report with your employer and the division, and keep a copy.
Then file the claim itself. The report is not the claim. Confirm both exist in writing.
Write down what happened. Date, time, place, names of witnesses, and photos if you can take them.
Talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free. Talk to an advocate.

If this feels like a lot, you are not alone.

Talk to an advocate.

Never do these

Never give a recorded statement to an insurance company, even your own. Talk to an advocate first.
Never admit fault or say "I'm sorry" about the injury. Stick to facts only.
Never sign a release or accept a first settlement offer without talking to an advocate first. A quick release can end your claim forever.
Never post about the injury or your recovery on social media. Insurers use these posts against you.

Common situations in Wyoming

Hurt at work

Wyoming stacks three separate steps: the 72-hour report to your employer, the 10-day injury report to the division, and the one-year claim for benefits. Each one matters on its own. The 72-hour and 10-day steps protect you from the denial presumption. The one-year claim is what actually asks for benefits.

A common and painful mistake is stopping after the injury report and waiting for benefits to arrive on their own. Confirm the claim was filed, in writing, and keep the confirmation with your records.

Hurt on the road

Car crash claims follow the four-year lawsuit deadline. Wyoming uses a modified comparative fault rule: you can recover as long as your share of fault is not more than 50 percent, and your recovery shrinks by your share. The rule appears in Wyoming Statute 1-1-109. Read the statute. Fault percentages get argued hard, so be careful with recorded statements and get advice first.

Hurt on someone's property, including dog bites

Wyoming has no dog bite statute. The Wyoming Supreme Court laid out the rules in a 2003 case, Borns v. Voss. An owner can be held strictly responsible if they knew the dog had dangerous propensities. Separately, you can bring an ordinary negligence claim without proving any prior viciousness, and a local leash ordinance can help establish what care the owner owed. Evidence of what the owner knew, and of local animal control rules, is often the whole case, so gather it early. For falls and other property injuries, the four-year deadline and the fault rule above apply.

A story worth knowing

A federal case out of Pennsylvania shows the mistake that ends more claims than any other: waiting for someone to tell you that you have a case. It was decided under a federal deadline, not Wyoming law, so the years in it do not apply to your claim. The lesson does. In 1968, veteran Charles Kubrick was treated for a leg infection at a hospital in Pennsylvania, where doctors washed the wound with an antibiotic. Weeks later his hearing began to fail, and by early 1969 a doctor told him the antibiotic had likely caused it.

The federal deadline for his claim was two years from when he knew of the injury and its cause. He waited until 1972 to file, after another doctor told him the treatment should never have been given.

He won damages in the lower courts, and then the US Supreme Court ruled his claim was too late. The clock had started in 1969, when he knew what hurt him, not when he learned it might be a legal wrong. He lost everything the lower courts had awarded. Read the decision.

Wyoming's own clocks work differently in the details, but they punish the same habit. Your 4-year lawsuit deadline is generous. The 72-hour work-injury report is not, and it starts when the injury becomes apparent, not when someone tells you that you have a case. Report first. Then talk to an advocate, and they will introduce you to a lawyer who handles cases like yours.

What we can help with

We are on your side, and only your side. We help injured people in Wyoming:

Understand which deadlines apply to your situation, in plain language
Understand why sending the 72-hour report and the 10-day report on time matters, and that a report is not the same as a filed claim
Know what records, bills, and letters to keep so nothing gets lost
Connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves
Avoid common traps, like assuming a report started your claim, or signing a fast release

We do not charge injured people anything. Ever. We explain your rights and options in general terms and connect you with licensed professionals for legal advice.

Talk to an advocate. Share your story in a few sentences and we will help you understand your next step. Start the form or open the chat.

Sources

Last reviewed: 2026-08-17

This is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines can change or vary with the facts. A licensed attorney can confirm the rule for your situation.

Injury types we cover in Wyoming

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