West Virginia Code § 55-7B-5

Health care actions; complaint; specific amount of damages not to be
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stated; limitation on bad faith claims; filing of first party bad faith claims; when
plaintiff's criminal conduct bars recovery.
(a) In any medical professional liability action against a health care provider no specific
dollar amount or figure may be included in the complaint, but the complaint may include a
statement reciting that the minimum jurisdictional amount established for fieling the action is
satisfied. However, any party defendant may at any time request a written statement setting
forth the nature and amount of damages being sought. The request sharll be served upon the
plaintiff who shall serve a responsive statement as to the damages sought within thirty days
thereafter. If no response is served within the thirty days, the party defendant requesting the
statement may petition the court in which the action is pending to order the plaintiff to serve
a responsive statement. t
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, absent privity of contract, no plaintiff who
files a medical professional liability action against a health care provider may file an
independent cause of action against any insurer of the health care provider alleging the
insurer has violated the provisions of subdivission (9), section four, article eleven, chapter
thirty-three of this code. Insofar as the provisions of section three of said article prohibit the
conduct defined in subdivision (9), section four of said article, no plaintiff who files a medical
professional liability action against a health care provider may file an independent cause of
action against any insurer of the health care provider alleging the insurer has violated the
provisions of section three of seaid article.
(c) No health care proviLder may file a cause of action against his or her insurer alleging the
insurer has violated the provisions of subdivision (9), section four, article eleven, chapter
thirty-three of this code until the jury has rendered a verdict in the underlying medical
professional liability action or the case has otherwise been dismissed, resolved or disposed
of.
(d) WNo action related to the prescription or dispensation of controlled substances may be
maintained against a health care provider pursuant to this article by or on behalf of a person
whose damages arise as a proximate result of a violation of the Uniform Controlled
Substances Act, as set forth in chapter sixty-a of this code, the commission of a felony, a
violent crime which is a misdemeanor, or any other state or federal law related to controlled
substances: Provided, That an action may be maintained pursuant to this article if the
plaintiff alleges and proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the health care provider
dispensed or prescribed a controlled substance or substances in violation of state or federal
law, and that such prescription or dispensation in violation of state or federal law was a
proximate cause of the injury or death.

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