There are a wide range of personal injury cases, and depending on the state in which you live, there’s a limited time in which you can file a claim and take your case to court.
Let’s say you are at a shopping center in Colorado and you slip and fall because the escalator you are descending on suddenly stops unexpectedly due to a malfunction, and you end up breaking your wrist.
While not all slip and fall injuries are the fault of the business – in this case, the shopping center and the manufacturer of the escalator would probably both be at fault – in Colorado you have two years in which to file a claim against one or both.
If you are in an auto accident in Wisconsin that was the fault of the other driver and suffer serious injuries that their insurance just can’t cover, you’ll have 3 years in which to file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations runs out.
Personal Injury Case Statute of Limitations: State by State
There are a wide range of injuries that fall under personal injury cases – a slip and fall such as we mentioned above, medical malpractice, a car accident, and many more. Even libel and slander are considered personal injuries.
Every state allows a certain amount of time for you and your attorney to gather necessary evidence to solidify your case, but that time differs from state to state.
While most states allow two or three years in which to file – although there are certain exceptions to those rules – some states including Maine, Minnesota, and North Dakota allow six years to file suit, Missouri allows five, and Florida, Nebraska, and Utah allow four years. Other states, however, are much less lenient, and these states – Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee – only allow one year before the statute of limitations on filing a personal injury lawsuit runs out.
Here is the time you have available before it’s too late to file suit and you will be unable to collect damages for your injuries:
- Alabama – 2 years
- Alaska – 2 years
- Arizona – 2 years
- Arkansas – 3 years
- California – 2 years
- Colorado – 2 years, except in cases involving motor vehicles, which allow 3 years
- Connecticut – 2 years
- Delaware – 2 years
- Florida – 4 years
- Georgia – 2 years
- Hawaii – 2 years
- Idaho – 2 years
- Illinois – 2 years
- Indiana – 2 years
- Iowa – 2 years
- Kansas – 2 years
- Kentucky – 1 year, with cases involving motor vehicles allowing 2 years
- Louisiana – 1 year
- Maine – 6 years
- Maryland – 3 years
- Massachusetts – 3 years
- Michigan – 3 years, with 1 year for personal injury protection (PIP) claims filed against your insurance company
- Minnesota – 6 years
- Mississippi – 3 years
- Missouri – 5 years
- Montana – 3 years
- Nebraska – 4 years
- Nevada – 2 years
- New Hampshire – 3 years
- New Jersey – 2 years
- New Mexico – 3 years
- New York – 3 years
- North Carolina – 3 years
- North Dakota – 6 years
- Ohio – 2 years
- Oklahoma – 2 years
- Oregon – 2 years
- Pennsylvania – 2 years
- Rhode Island – 3 years
- South Carolina – 3 years
- South Dakota – 3 years
- Tennessee – 1 year
- Texas – 2 years
- Utah – 4 years
- Vermont – 3 years
- Virginia – 2 years
- Washington – 3 years
- West Virginia – 2 years
- Wisconsin – 3 years
- Wyoming – 4 years
Exceptions to Statute of Limitations Deadlines
While it may seem as though three or four years is plenty of time to file a lawsuit, the time it takes to gather together everything you need for your attorney to present a solid case, evidence gathering can be difficult and time consuming, and witnesses can be difficult to find after a personal injury accident is over and the ambulance – if you needed one – has left. There are certain situations, however, that could provide extra time for plaintiffs, essentially extending the deadline associated with the statute of limitations.
While state laws differ, here are some of the exceptions that could provide more time to file a personal injury lawsuit: 1
- If the person injured was under the age of 18 when the personal injury occurred.
- In Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee, minors have one year after their 18th birthday to file a personal injury case.
- In Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, minors can file up to two years after their 18th birthday, although the statute of limitations in Idaho cannot exceed six years. That means if a six-year-old suffers an injury, a case must be filed by the time the child is 12.
- In Mississippi, children under six have two years in which to file.
- In Massachusetts, children under six have until they are nine to file, but the extension only includes children under six. Children older than six are still looking at three years before their statute of limitations runs out.
- In Arkansas, Washington, California, Delaware, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, minors have three years after their 18th birthday to file.
- In New Mexico, minors have three years after their 19th birthday to file a personal injury suit.
- In Alabama, Nebraska and Utah, a minor has four years after his or her 19th birthday to file.
- In Maine, minors have six years to file after they turn 18.
- In Florida, minors have seven years after the date of their injury in which to file.
- In Hawaii, children under 10 have six years after their 10th birthday; minors who are 10 or older have six years from their 10th birthday.
- In Connecticut, there is no extension of the statute of limitations for minors.
- If the person injured was declared legally incompetent at the time of the injury. For example, in Alabama, a person has two years after they are determined legally competent to file. Other states have similar extensions in place.
- If the person responsible for the accident attempted to hide from a potential lawsuit. That could mean moving out of state or concealing themselves by changing their name, for example, within the state before the plaintiff in the case was able to file a personal injury lawsuit.
- If the defendant in the case attempted to hide either the injury or his or her role in the injury, a fraudulent move that can lead to extra time before filing a case.
- If the defendant should go to prison, the statute of limitations is paused – the legal term is tolled, taken from ringing a bell – in Ohio until the defendant is release. Some other states have similar legal rules in place for tort cases such as personal injury.
Types of Personal Injury Lawsuits
There are a wide range of personal injury cases that can fall under what is known as tort law, which is simply another name for personal injury law. If someone is injured as the result of someone else’s negligence or as the result of an intentional act, they are most likely entitled to some form of compensation through a personal injury suit.
The most common types of personal injury cases include:
Car accidents
Car accidents are the most common personal injury cases in the United States. Accidents generally happen because the offending driver either isn’t paying attention to the road, isn’t driving carefully (going to fast for conditions, for example), or not following the rules of the road (failure to yield, speeding, etc.) If there are injuries and damages, in most cases, a careless driver can be held responsible for all of the costs involved. There are exceptions in so-called “no fault” states, which include Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, and Puerto Rico. Drivers who were not at fault must collect from their own insurance companies unless the injuries associated with the accident were serious.
Slip and fall incidents
Property owners are required to ensure that the buildings in which they operate those businesses are safe and hazard-free, so visitors are not likely to become injured. A loose step, a spill without a warning sign and a variety of other situations could result in a personal injury lawsuit if injuries are severe. Bear in mind, however, that property owners are not always liable for injuries that occur on their property. The landowner’s or business owner’s legal responsibility varies depending on the laws in the state where the accident happened.
Medical malpractice
When a doctor or another health care professional fails to provide treatment that meets the appropriate standard of care, resulting in the injury of a patient, the patient may be in a good position for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. Understand, however, that medical malpractice suits are difficult to win for a variety of reasons – doctors tend to protect other doctors, and lawyers don’t always delve as deeply into a case as they should, especially if they are a small firm with limited resources – so consult a few attorneys to find out if your case in winnable before proceeding. If you do decide to continue, know that your personal information is now open for examination, but your doctor’s information – even if he or she injured another person in a similar way – remains private.
Dog bites
There are approximately 5 million dog bites a year in the United States, and dog owners are generally responsible for the financial costs of dog bites, including physical and emotional injuries. The person who was bitten may also file a personal injury suit against the owner. Some states have what are called “one bite” laws – currently Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York (criminal charges only), North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota (unless the dog was not on a leash), Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming – which mean that the owners had no idea their dog was in any way aggressive or was likely to bite. In other states, owners – or their homeowner’s insurance – are responsible for the costs associated with the injury, and owners can be facing a personal injury lawsuit as well. Lawsuits for dog bites, however, are rare, because insurance policies provide enough to cover the costs associated with claims. 1
Defamation
There are two types of defamation, libel and slander, and we hear about them the most when The National Enquirer runs an article about an actor or an actress that is completely false. In order to win a libel or slander case, the plaintiff must prove that they or their reputation were damaged by the untrue statements. Celebrities must prove that the negative untrue stories were published with actual malice. In 2023, for example, Tom Cruise settled a $50 million dollar defamation lawsuit against a tabloid publisher over a story that he’d abandoned his daughter, Suri. CNN did not disclose the settlement. 2 If the plaintiff is not a celebrity, but an important person in a community or a business owner, for example, and they can prove financial loss, they are more likely to win their defamation case.
Assault and battery
While most personal injury cases associated with assault and battery result criminal cases, that does not cover the potential costs of injuries, which can be substantial. The cost of injuries is covered in civil court, and in serious cases can lead to substantial damages against the perpetrator of the assault. Both assault and battery differ.
In cases of assault that go to civil court, the victim must prove:
- The threat to inflict injury on another person.
- The person’s perceived ability to cause harm.
- A reasonable fear of bodily harm.
In cases of civil battery, the victim must prove:
- There was intentional, forceful touching.
- The impact was intentionally harmful.
- The forceful incident was without the victim’s consent. 3
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