Wyoming car accident law: deadlines, fault and your claim

Filing deadlines in Wyoming#

Title 1 of the Wyoming Statutes sets the statute of limitationsStatute of limitations. The law that sets the last day to file a lawsuit. After it passes, a court will usually dismiss the case, however strong it is. Glossary for crash claims. Injuries and vehicle damage share the same four-year deadline, but the wrongful death deadline is half as long and runs from the date of death.

Injured children. Under Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-114, a child injured before turning 18 can sue within 3 years after turning 18, or within the normal deadline if that ends later. This kind of extension is a form of tollingTolling. Pausing the limitations clock, for example while the injured person is a child. Glossary.

Claims against the government. The Wyoming Governmental Claims Act requires an itemized written claim presented to the government body within 2 years of the crash (or, in limited cases, within 2 years of discovering the act or omission). The claim must state the time, place and circumstances of the crash, the name of the public employee involved if known, and the amount of money demanded. It must be signed by the claimant under oath, certifying under penalty of false swearing that the claim is true and accurate. It goes to the General Services Division of the Department of Administration and Information for claims against the state, or the business office of any other government body, such as the county clerk, the city or town clerk, or a school district's superintendent. A lawsuit must then be filed within 1 year after the claim was filed; a local government does not have to act on the claim before a lawsuit is filed.

How fault is shared in Wyoming#

Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109 lets you recover if your fault is not more than 50% of the total fault of everyone involved in the crash. Your damages are then reduced by your own percentage. A 50/50 split still allows recovery; at 51% you recover nothing. Your share is measured against the total fault of everyone involved, not against each driver one at a time.

The same statute limits what each defendant pays: each defendant is liable only for its own percentage of the total fault.

Adjusters apply the same rules in negotiations. Try the fault-rule explainer to compare Wyoming with other states.

Insurance in Wyoming#

Wyoming drivers must carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries, plus $20,000 for property damage. Wyoming is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash, through their insurer, pays for the losses. It does not require personal injury protection (PIP).

• Uninsured motorist coverageUninsured motorist coverage. Coverage under your own policy that pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance, or too little. Glossary: Must be included at $25,000/$50,000 unless the named insured rejects it (Wyo. Stat. § 31-10-101). It pays your injury losses when the at-fault driver has no insurance. The Insurance Information Institute estimates that 6.7% of Wyoming drivers were uninsured in 2023, well below the national figure of 15.4%. See uninsured driver accidents.
• Underinsured motorist coverage: the uninsured motorist statute does not address it. Check your policy's declarations page or ask your insurer whether you have it and what it pays.

The Wyoming Department of Insurance answers questions and takes complaints about insurers: 800-438-5768 (toll-free); 307-777-7402 (Consumer Affairs).

After a crash in Wyoming#

Under Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-1105, if a crash injures or kills anyone, or leaves a vehicle too damaged to be driven normally and safely, the driver must immediately notify the local police if the crash happened in a city or town, or otherwise the nearest Highway Patrol office or the county sheriff, by the quickest means of communication. WYDOT notes that this version of the rule applies as of July 1, 2025. An officer who investigates such a crash must send a written report to WYDOT within 10 days.

To get a copy of the crash reportCrash report. The official report an officer writes after investigating a crash, with the drivers, vehicles, witnesses and the officer's notes. Glossary, request it from WYDOT's Highway Safety Program, which keeps crash reports from Wyoming law enforcement agencies, by phone, email or mail: call (307) 777-4450 or email crash.records@wyo.gov. Include the case number if you have it, the law enforcement agency that handled the crash, the crash date, the name and date of birth of a person involved, and the vehicle's VIN. Read more about police reports.

Special rules in Wyoming#

Seat belt use stays out of court. Under Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-1402(f), evidence that someone was not wearing a seat belt is not admissible in any civil case. In a Wyoming lawsuit, a missing seat belt cannot be used to argue that your damages should be reduced.

Each defendant pays only its own share. Because no defendant covers another's share of fault, it often matters who else contributed to the crash: another driver, an employer whose worker was driving, or a government body. Your own uninsured motorist coverage may help if an at-fault driver had no insurance. See company vehicle accidents.

Drunk drivers and the bars that served them. Wyoming's dram shop lawDram shop law. A law that can make a bar or store liable for serving alcohol to someone who then causes a crash. Glossary is narrow: a person who legally provided the alcohol is not liable for damage caused by the drinker's intoxication, but that protection does not apply if the alcohol was sold or provided in violation of Wyoming's liquor laws (title 12). The drunk driver remains liable in every case. See drunk driver accidents.

Crashes on Wyoming roads#

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety counted 107 crash deaths in Wyoming in 2024, or 18.2 per 100,000 people, well above the national rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people. Rural roads accounted for 75% of the state's crash deaths, and 39% were speeding-related.

Finding a lawyer in Wyoming#

The Wyoming State Bar runs a lawyer referral program. You can request a referral online; each request is reviewed by the bar's Lawyer Referral Coordinator rather than generated by computer, and the referral is usually emailed within one or two business days. The bar also keeps a Lawyer Referral Directory of lawyers in the program, searchable by practice area. Its main office line is (307) 632-9061.

Before you hire anyone, confirm the lawyer's license in the State Bar's lawyer directory search, which covers every lawyer licensed in Wyoming. See how to check a lawyer's license and lawyer referral services.