The personal injury statute of limitations by state ranges from one year to six years, measured from the date you were hurt. Kentucky and Tennessee give you the least time at one year; Maine, Minnesota, and North Dakota give you the most at six. Most states fall in the middle at two or three years. Miss your state’s deadline by a single day and a court will dismiss the case, no matter how clear the fault or how serious the injuries.
One-Year States
Two states hold personal injury plaintiffs to a 12-month deadline. Kentucky requires claims to be filed within one year of the date the injury happened.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Code 413.140 – Actions to Be Brought Within One Year Tennessee imposes the same one-year limit for most personal injury actions, including bodily harm, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution, and courts there construe it strictly.2Justia. Tennessee Code 28-3-104 – Personal Tort Actions
A one-year window leaves almost no room for extended insurance negotiations before suit must be filed. If you’re hurt in either state, contact a lawyer within weeks, not months.
Two-Year States
Two years is the most common deadline in the country. It covers roughly half of all states.
California applies a two-year limit to claims for assault, battery, or injury caused by someone else’s negligence.3California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 335.1 – Actions for Assault, Battery, or Injury Texas sets the same two-year period for personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage.4State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003 – Two-Year Limitations Period Arizona requires suit within two years of the date the cause of action accrues.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 12-542 – Injury to Person, Two Year Limitation
Other two-year states include Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Ohio’s statute runs the clock from the date the bodily injury occurs.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2305.10 – Bodily Injury or Injury to Personal Property Virginia’s rule covers personal injuries “whatever the theory of recovery.”7Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 8.01-243 – Personal Action for Injury to Person or Property Generally
Two states deserve a specific note because their deadlines recently changed. Louisiana historically used a one-year prescriptive period under Civil Code Article 3492, but that article was repealed effective July 1, 2024.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code 3492 – Repealed The replacement, Article 3493.1, now gives Louisiana plaintiffs two years from the date of injury.9Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code 3493.1 – Delictual Actions Florida dropped its negligence deadline from four years to two years in a tort reform law that took effect March 24, 2023.10Florida Senate. House Bill 837 (2023) Florida’s current statute puts negligence actions in the two-year group, though intentional torts like assault and battery still carry a four-year deadline.11Florida Senate. Florida Code 95.11 – Limitations Other Than for the Recovery of Real Property
Three-Year States
Three years is the second most common standard. New York applies it to most personal injury actions under its Civil Practice Law and Rules.12New York State Senate. New York Code CVP 214 – Actions to Be Commenced Within Three Years Rhode Island uses the same three-year window.13Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island Code 9-1-14 – Limitation of Actions for Words Spoken or Personal Injuries South Dakota’s statute covers personal injury actions not governed by a more specific deadline.14South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Laws 15-2-14 – Action for Personal Injury
Other three-year states include Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s statute covers both personal injury and wrongful death claims within the same three years.
Four, Five, and Six-Year States
A smaller group of states gives plaintiffs substantially more time. Nebraska allows four years for personal injury claims not arising from a contract.15Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Revised Statutes 25-207 Utah and Wyoming also set four-year deadlines.
Missouri sits at five years, among the longest in the country. Its statute covers injury “to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract.”16Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 516.120 – What Actions Within Five Years
Three states allow six years. Maine applies a blanket six-year limit to civil actions unless a specific statute says otherwise.17Maine Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 14 752 – Six Years Minnesota covers personal injury under its general six-year rule for actions not arising on contract.18Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 541.05 – Various Cases, Six Years North Dakota uses the same six-year window. A longer deadline isn’t a reason to wait. Evidence degrades, witnesses move, and memories fade on the same schedule regardless of what the statute says.
Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death Have Separate Deadlines
The deadlines above apply to general personal injury claims: car crashes, slip-and-falls, and ordinary negligence. Two common case types often follow different rules.
Medical Malpractice
Malpractice deadlines are frequently shorter than the general personal injury statute of limitations in the same state, and they often add requirements like pre-suit notice to the provider or a certificate of merit from another physician. Many states also impose an outer cap running from the date of the negligent act regardless of when the harm was discovered. If you suspect medical negligence, treat the clock as shorter than the general injury window until you’ve confirmed your state’s specific rule.
Wrongful Death
Wrongful death claims almost always have their own statute of limitations, and the clock usually runs from the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury. Texas spells this out in the same statute that governs personal injury, with the two-year wrongful death clock accruing on the day the injured person dies.4State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003 – Two-Year Limitations Period If someone is injured, survives for months, and then dies from those injuries, the family’s wrongful death deadline runs from the date of death. The personal injury claim the victim could have brought while alive runs from the accident date. Both deadlines can exist at once with different expiration dates.
Claims Against the Government Follow Different Rules
Suing a government agency runs on a shorter and stricter schedule than suing a private party. More injury claims die here than anywhere else, because the deadlines are compressed and there’s an administrative step most people don’t know about.
Federal Employees and the FTCA
If a federal employee injures you while on the job, your claim falls under the Federal Tort Claims Act. You must submit an administrative claim to the responsible agency within two years of the injury.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States You cannot skip this. Federal law bars suit unless the claimant first presented the claim to the agency.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2675 – Disposition by Federal Agency as Prerequisite The agency has six months to respond. If it denies the claim, you have six more months from the date of the denial letter to file in federal court.
State and Local Government Notice Requirements
Most states require a separate “notice of claim” before you can sue a state or local agency, and the notice deadline is almost always far shorter than the regular statute of limitations. These windows commonly fall between 30 and 180 days from the date of the incident. California requires personal injury claims against a state or local agency to be filed within six months. Arizona and Colorado set roughly 180 days. Indiana gives 270 days. Some states set the bar as low as 90 days. Missing the notice deadline forfeits the right to sue the government entirely, even if the underlying statute of limitations hasn’t run. If you were injured by a government vehicle, on government property, or by a government employee acting in an official capacity, look up your state’s notice rule right away.
When the Clock Starts
In most cases, the clock starts the day you were hurt. Break your leg in a parking lot on June 15, and the clock starts June 15. Courts count forward by the number of years your state allows, and the deadline lands on the same calendar date in the final year.
The Discovery Rule
Some injuries don’t announce themselves at the moment they happen. Toxic exposure, defective medical devices, and surgical errors involving retained foreign objects can take months or years to surface. The discovery rule delays the start of the clock to the date you knew, or reasonably should have known, that you were injured and that someone else’s conduct may have caused it.
The “reasonably should have known” piece matters. Courts don’t let plaintiffs ignore obvious symptoms and then claim surprise years later. If a reasonable person in your situation would have sought care and discovered the injury earlier, a judge may hold that the clock started at that earlier point. Proving the actual discovery date usually requires documented evidence like a diagnostic report, lab results, or a medical referral.
Continuous Treatment
In medical malpractice cases, the continuous treatment doctrine can further delay the start of the clock. The deadline may not begin running until the course of treatment for the same condition ends. The reasoning: a patient still seeing the same provider for the same problem has an ongoing relationship and reasonable expectation that earlier mistakes will be corrected. Courts look for objective evidence of ongoing care, such as follow-up appointments, medication adjustments, and treatment notes showing active management of the condition.
What Pauses the Clock
Even after the clock starts, certain circumstances can freeze it. Lawyers call this tolling.
Minor Children
In most states, the clock does not run against a minor until they turn 18. A child injured at age 10 in a two-year state would generally have until age 20 to file. Medical malpractice is a frequent exception. Many states impose a shorter cutoff for minors in malpractice cases, sometimes with an absolute bar that falls before the child reaches adulthood.
Mental Incapacity
If a person cannot understand their legal rights due to a cognitive impairment or mental health condition, the deadline pauses until capacity is restored. Medical documentation is required to establish incapacity during the relevant period.
Defendant Leaves the State
If the defendant moves out of state or hides to avoid service, many states toll the statute for the period of absence. Once the defendant returns to the jurisdiction or is located, the clock resumes from where it paused.
Active Military Service
Federal law provides blanket tolling for active-duty service members. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the period of military service is not counted when calculating any filing deadline, in state or federal court.21Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3936 – Statutes of Limitations
Statutes of Repose Set a Separate Absolute Cutoff
A statute of repose works differently from a statute of limitations. A statute of limitations starts when you’re injured or when you discover the injury. A statute of repose starts from a fixed event like the date a product was manufactured, sold, or installed. Once the repose period runs out, your right to sue is gone, even if you haven’t been hurt yet.
These rules most often appear in product liability and construction defect cases. A state might set a 10-year statute of repose for construction defects, measured from substantial completion. If a hidden structural flaw injures someone in year 11, the repose statute bars the claim even though the injury just occurred. The discovery rule does not override a statute of repose. Tolling for minors or incapacity typically does not either. All 50 states have some form of statute of repose, though the covered claim types and the length of the period vary. If your injury involves a product or a building more than a few years old, check whether a statute of repose applies alongside the statute of limitations.
What Happens If You File Late
Late filing is one of the few procedural mistakes that cannot be fixed. The defense will file a motion to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds. If the filing date is clear and no tolling exception applies, the judge is required to grant the dismissal. No discretion. No exception for severe injuries or strong evidence of fault.
The dismissal is almost always “with prejudice,” meaning the case is permanently closed. You cannot refile in another court, repackage the claim under a different theory, or wait for a different judge. The inquiry starts and ends with the calendar.
One narrow exception exists. If the defendant actively concealed the wrongdoing or made promises that discouraged the plaintiff from filing until the deadline passed, a court may apply equitable estoppel and refuse to let the defendant benefit from the expired deadline. The plaintiff generally has to show affirmative conduct by the defendant that caused the delay, not just silence. Courts treat this as an extraordinary remedy, not a routine escape hatch.
Filing Isn’t the Same as Serving
Filing the complaint before the deadline isn’t the end of the job. You also have to serve the defendant with the lawsuit within a separate time limit. In federal court, that window is 90 days after filing. State service deadlines vary. If you file on the last day of the statute of limitations and then fail to serve the defendant within the service period, the case can be dismissed. People who file at the last minute often fall into this trap without realizing service runs on its own clock.