How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Claim?

In most states you have 2 or 3 years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. A few states give you only 1 year, and a few give you 5 or 6. Claims against a city, county or state agency can require a written notice within 90 days to 6 months.

Miss the deadline and the court will almost always dismiss your case, no matter how strong it is. The deadline is called the statute of limitations, and it applies to the lawsuit, not to the insurance claim you open after an accident.

What is the deadline in my state?

The deadline is set by a statute in each state, and the range runs from 1 year to 6 years. Here are real examples, with the statute that sets each one.

1 year

• Tennessee. Actions for "injuries to the person" must be filed within 1 year under Tenn. Code Ann. §28-3-104(a)(1).
• Kentucky. KRS 413.140(1)(a) gives you 1 year for an injury to the person.

2 years

• California. Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 sets 2 years for injury or death caused by someone's wrongful act or neglect. See our California page.
• Texas. Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003 requires suit within 2 years after the claim accrues.
• Florida. Florida cut its negligence deadline from 4 years to 2 years. HB 837 (Chapter 2023-15) was signed March 24, 2023, and the shorter period applies to claims that arose after that date.
• Louisiana. Louisiana used a 1-year period for decades. For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Civil Code art. 3493.1 allows 2 years. Older injuries stay under the old 1-year rule.

3 years or more

• New York. CPLR 214(5) gives you 3 years for a personal injury. See our New York page.
• Missouri. RSMo §516.120(4) allows 5 years for an injury to the person not arising on contract.
• Minnesota. Minn. Stat. §541.05, subd. 1(5) allows 6 years for most negligence injuries. Product liability claims get 4 years under subdivision 2.
• Maine. Maine's general 6-year limit in 14 M.R.S. §752 covers most injury suits.

Deadlines change. Florida cut its deadline by 2 years in 2023, and Louisiana added a year in 2024. Advice written before then, including a relative's, can be wrong, so read the current statute.

Special claims often have their own shorter clock. Medical malpractice, claims against government bodies and some product cases follow separate rules in nearly every state.

When does the clock start?

The clock usually starts on the day you were hurt. For a car crash on June 1, 2026 in California, the 2-year deadline falls on June 1, 2028.

The "discovery rule" is the main exception. It starts the clock when you found out, or reasonably should have found out, that you were injured and what caused it.

States apply the discovery rule to different claims. New York's CPLR 214-c starts the 3-year period for toxic exposure injuries on the date of discovery. California's Code of Civil Procedure §340.5 gives a malpractice patient 3 years from the injury or 1 year from discovery, whichever comes first.

Does the deadline pause for children?

Yes, in most states the clock is paused ("tolled") until an injured child turns 18. The child then gets the normal period starting on the 18th birthday.

California Code of Civil Procedure §352(a) excludes the time a person is a minor. A 15-year-old hurt in a California crash would have until age 20 to sue.

New York's CPLR 208 extends the deadline to 3 years after the minor turns 18. For medical malpractice, that extension can't run past 10 years after the malpractice.

Parents shouldn't count on tolling. California's §352(b) says the pause does not apply to claims that require a government claim form. The short government deadline still runs for a child.

What if a government agency caused the injury?

You usually must file a written claim with the agency long before the lawsuit deadline. If you skip it, you can lose the right to sue.

• California. Government Code §911.2 requires a claim for injury or death to be presented within 6 months after the claim accrues.
• New York. General Municipal Law §50-e requires a notice of claim within 90 days for claims against cities, counties and other public corporations.

This matters in crashes with city buses, garbage trucks and police cars, and in falls on public sidewalks. A 90-day window can close before you are even out of physical therapy.

Is the deadline different for a wrongful death claim?

Often the length is similar, but the clock starts on the date of death instead of the date of the injury. That difference matters when someone dies weeks or months after an accident.

• California. The same §335.1 applies: 2 years for a death caused by wrongful act or neglect.
• Texas. §16.003(b) allows 2 years and says the claim "accrues on the death of the injured person."
• New York. EPTL 5-4.1 requires a wrongful death action within 2 years after death. That is shorter than the 3 years an injured survivor would get.
• Florida. Fla. Stat. §95.11 sets 2 years for wrongful death.

Does an insurance claim stop the clock?

No. Talking with an adjuster, receiving settlement offers or opening a claim does not pause the statute of limitations. Filing the lawsuit in court is what counts.

Insurers know the deadline. An offer that arrives a few weeks before it expires puts you in a weak spot. By then the adjuster knows you can't credibly threaten a lawsuit. Our guide to how long a personal injury case takes shows how settlement talks and litigation overlap.

What to do now

1. Write down the exact date of the injury, and the date you first learned of it if that was later.
2. Identify every possible defendant. If any is a government body or employee, find the notice-of-claim deadline first, because it is the shortest.
3. Look up your state's statute from the examples above or your state's legislature website. Check whether your claim type (malpractice, product, death) has its own section.
4. Put the earliest deadline on your calendar and count back 60 days. That gives a lawyer time to investigate before filing.
5. If you talk to a lawyer, ask which deadline applies, whether any tolling rule helps you, and the exact date they will file. Our list of questions to ask a personal injury lawyer covers the rest.

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