The maritime statute of limitations sets a three-year default for personal injury and death claims arising on navigable waters, but that number changes sharply based on who was hurt, who caused the harm, and what kind of incident occurred. Cruise passengers often have just one year to sue and six months to give notice. Cargo claims run out after one year. Suits against the federal government must be filed within two. Harbor workers get one year for most injuries and two for occupational disease. Miss any of these windows and the claim is almost always gone, no matter how strong the facts.
The Three-Year Default for Personal Injury and Death
The baseline is 46 U.S.C. § 30106: three years from the date of the incident to file a civil action for personal injury or death arising out of a maritime tort.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30106 – Time Limit on Bringing Maritime Action for Personal Injury or Death This default governs the broadest category of maritime incidents on oceans, major lakes, and rivers used for interstate commerce: recreational boating collisions, injuries to guests on private vessels, jet ski crashes, and anything else that doesn’t fall under a more specific statute.
Courts enforce the deadline strictly. A complaint filed on day 1,096 instead of day 1,095 is subject to dismissal regardless of injury severity. Treat the three-year mark as a hard wall and start building the case well before you approach it.
Jones Act Seamen
Crew members injured in the course of their work also get three years, though the statute takes a detour to get there. The Jones Act at 46 U.S.C. § 30104 doesn’t contain its own limitation period; it borrows the one that governs railroad worker injury claims under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30104 – Personal Injury to or Death of Seamen FELA at 45 U.S.C. § 56 sets that period at three years from the day the claim accrued.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 45 USC 56 – Actions, Limitation
Seamen often combine a Jones Act negligence claim with an unseaworthiness claim under general maritime law. Federal courts have held that when the two are brought together, the three-year period controls both, and a court cannot impose a shorter equitable deadline on the unseaworthiness piece that would effectively gut the Jones Act claim.
One carve-out matters: the Jones Act now excludes certain aquaculture workers from the definition of “seaman” when state workers’ compensation covers them and they were injured engaged in aquaculture in a place where they had lawful access.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30104 – Personal Injury to or Death of Seamen If that’s your situation, your filing deadline may come from state law, not federal maritime law.
Death on the High Seas
When a death results from wrongful conduct occurring more than three nautical miles from the U.S. shore, the Death on the High Seas Act applies. Under 46 U.S.C. § 30302, the personal representative of the deceased can sue for the benefit of the spouse, parents, children, or dependent relatives.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30302 – Cause of Action DOHSA itself doesn’t set a limitation period, so the three-year default under § 30106 governs because that statute covers any civil action for death arising out of a maritime tort.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30106 – Time Limit on Bringing Maritime Action for Personal Injury or Death
Cruise Ship Passengers
Cruise injuries run on a much tighter timeline, and passengers almost never learn this until the deadline is behind them. Federal law at 46 U.S.C. § 30508 lets cruise lines shorten the window through their ticket contracts, down to statutory floors: notice of claim cannot be required sooner than six months after the injury, and the lawsuit deadline cannot be shorter than one year.6GovInfo. 46 USC 30508 – Provisions Requiring Notice of Claim or Limiting Time for Bringing Action Most major cruise lines contract right down to those minimums.
Two separate clocks run from the date of injury. The first is the notice deadline, roughly six months, by which written notice of the claim must reach the cruise line. That is not the lawsuit; it is a prerequisite to the lawsuit. The second is the one-year window to actually file a complaint in court. Miss the notice deadline and the cruise line will argue the right to sue is already forfeited, even though the one-year suit window hasn’t closed.
Federal courts generally enforce these shortened deadlines when the ticket terms were reasonably communicated to the passenger. The contract buried in a booking confirmation is binding whether you read it or not. Delivery requirements vary: some carriers specify a corporate address for written notice, others require only “full particulars in writing.” Find the contract immediately after an injury, because the six-month clock doesn’t wait for you to find the fine print.
Cargo Damage and Loss
Shippers face a one-year window to sue for lost or damaged cargo under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, codified in the statutory notes to 46 U.S.C. § 30701. The clock starts on the date the goods were delivered or, if they never arrived, the date they should have reached their destination.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30701 – Definition
Bills of lading often add their own requirement for prompt written notice of visible damage at delivery. Failing to send that notice doesn’t automatically bar a lawsuit filed within the one-year period, but it hands the carrier an argument that the damage happened after delivery. Inspect and document goods on receipt and send written notice right away, even if the full extent of the loss isn’t yet clear.
Harbor Workers and Longshore Claims
Dock workers, ship repairers, and other harbor workers don’t file personal injury lawsuits in the usual sense. They claim benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, which sets its own deadlines at 33 U.S.C. § 913: the right to compensation is barred unless a claim is filed within one year after the injury or death.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 USC 913 – Filing of Claims
Two exceptions soften that one-year rule. If the employer has been voluntarily paying compensation without a formal award, the one-year clock restarts from the date of the last payment. And for occupational diseases that don’t produce immediate symptoms, the deadline extends to two years from the date the worker becomes aware, or should reasonably have become aware, of the connection among the employment, the disease, and the resulting disability or death.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 USC 913 – Filing of Claims
Oil Spill Claims
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 sets its own deadlines, which vary by claim type:
- Damage claims must be brought within three years after the date the injury and its connection to the discharge were reasonably discovered. For natural resource damages, the deadline runs three years after completion of the damage assessment if that date is later.
- Administrative claims for removal costs must be presented within six years after all removal actions are completed. Court actions for removal costs must be filed within three years of completion of the removal action.
The Oil Pollution Act also pauses the clock for minors and mentally incompetent individuals, which most maritime limitation periods do not. The deadline does not begin running against a minor until they turn 18 or a legal representative is appointed, whichever comes first, and the same protection applies to incompetent individuals.9GovInfo. Oil Pollution Act of 1990
Claims Against the Federal Government
Suing the United States in admiralty runs on a shorter clock. The Suits in Admiralty Act at 46 U.S.C. § 30905 requires that any civil action against the government be brought within two years after the cause of action arose.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 30905 – Period for Bringing Action The same two-year window applies under the Public Vessels Act for damage caused by a government vessel.
Before filing, you may need to exhaust administrative remedies. Claims involving the Maritime Administration under the Federal Tort Claims Act require a written administrative claim within two years. If the agency denies the claim, you then have six months from the denial letter to file suit. If the agency doesn’t respond within six months, you can treat the silence as a denial and go to court.11eCFR. 46 CFR Part 204 – Claims Against the Maritime Administration Under the Federal Tort Claims Act
When Does the Clock Start?
For most maritime claims the limitation period begins on the date of the incident. That rule gets complicated when the injury isn’t immediately apparent. Asbestos exposure aboard a vessel, hearing loss from prolonged engine noise, or illness from chemical cargo fumes may not produce symptoms for years. In those situations the discovery rule holds the clock until the claimant knows, or reasonably should know, about the injury and its likely cause.
Courts decide “should have known” by asking what a reasonable person in your position would have connected to the maritime exposure. A first medical diagnosis linking the condition to shipboard work typically starts the clock, even if that diagnosis comes long after the exposure ended. Keep records of the incident date, the vessel’s location, and every medical appointment where the condition is discussed.
No Pause for Minors or Incapacity
This is where maritime law parts ways with what most people expect. On land, nearly every state pauses the statute of limitations for children until they reach adulthood and for adults who were mentally incapacitated at the time of injury. Maritime law does not. Federal courts have held that the three-year deadline under § 30106 runs regardless of the claimant’s age, mental capacity, or bankruptcy status, and that state tolling rules are displaced by federal maritime law.
A child injured in a boating accident at age two needs an adult to file on their behalf before age five. A person left unconscious or mentally incapacitated by a maritime accident needs a legal representative appointed in time to file within three years. The Oil Pollution Act is the exception, not the rule. If a child or incapacitated person is involved, moving quickly to appoint a representative is not optional.
Where You File, and Why Service Still Matters
Federal district courts have original jurisdiction over admiralty and maritime cases under 28 U.S.C. § 1333.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1333 – Admiralty, Maritime and Prize Cases The same statute’s “saving to suitors” clause preserves the right to pursue most maritime claims in state court when you’re seeking a common law remedy like money damages. Some actions, such as vessel arrest proceedings, can only go in federal court.
Whichever court you choose, a demand letter to an insurer or vessel owner does not stop the limitation clock. Only filing a formal complaint accomplishes that. Once filed, you have 90 days to serve the defendant with the summons and complaint; miss that service window and the court can dismiss without prejudice, by which point the limitation period may have expired and refiling may be impossible.13Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons Filing on the last possible day and then fumbling service is one of the most preventable ways to lose a maritime claim.