§ 8.01-195.6.Notice of claim.

Section 8.01-195.6(A) requires a claimant, or an agent, attorney, or representative acting for the claimant, to file a written statement describing the nature of the claim — including when and where the injury happened and which agency is allegedly liable — within one year after the cause of action accrues. Missing that written statement does not automatically bar the claim: if the Division of Risk Management, an insurer or entity covering the claim, or the Attorney General, for a Commonwealth claim, or the chairman of the transportation district’s commission, for a district claim, had actual knowledge of the same information within that same one-year window, the claim survives. A claimant under a legal disability when the cause of action accrued gets the benefit of the tolling rules in Section 8.01-229.

Subsection B tells the claimant where to send the notice. A claim against the Commonwealth goes to the Director of the Division of Risk Management or the Attorney General; a claim against a transportation district goes to the chairman of that district’s commission. If the claim is against the Commonwealth and the responsible agency is the Department of Transportation, the notice instead goes to the Commissioner of Highways, who must promptly forward it to the Attorney General if it falls outside whatever settlement authority the Attorney General has delegated to the Department.

Subsections C and D govern delivery and proof. Notice is deemed filed when it reaches the office of the official to whom it is directed, whether delivered by hand, by any form of United States mail, or by commercial delivery service — and notice to the Commissioner of Highways may also be delivered electronically in a manner the Commissioner prescribes. If the filing is ever contested, the claimant carries the burden of proving receipt, and a signed mail return receipt or any other signed, dated acknowledgment from the receiving office counts as prima facie evidence that the notice was filed.

Subsection E addresses medical malpractice claims against the Commonwealth specifically: they remain subject to this article’s notice requirements as well as the separate medical malpractice provisions in Chapter 21.1, though recovery still cannot exceed the caps set by Section 8.01-195.3.