How The Two Year Deadline Works
In most states an injury claim has to be started within a set time, often two years. What that clock covers, what it does not, and why the practical deadline is a lot sooner.
What the statute says
A typical state's limitations statute lists the actions that must be commenced within two years. One of them is an action to recover damages for injuries to the person, or for the death of an individual, caused by the wrongful act or neglect or unlawful violence or negligence of another. The same section also sweeps in any other action to recover damages for injury to person or property founded on negligent, intentional or otherwise tortious conduct.
Commenced means filed
The two years run to the commencement of the action, not to a phone call, not to a claim number opened with an insurer, and not to a settlement conversation that is still going on. An adjuster who is still friendly in month twenty three has not extended anything.
Some clocks run differently
Not every claim is on the plain two year track. A claim against a government unit carries its own earlier step: a written statement, with the injured person's details and the date, hour and place of the accident, has to be filed with that government unit within six months of the injury. And where the person entitled to bring the action was an unemancipated minor when the claim accrued, the period of minority is not counted, so the clock starts when they turn eighteen. Those are questions to ask early rather than late, because the answer decides how much room you actually have.
Why the practical deadline is sooner
- Dashcam and phone footage gets overwritten
- Businesses recycle security video in days or weeks, not years
- Witnesses move and stop answering
- Memory of the lane, the light and the speed fades
- Medical records scatter as providers change
What calling early costs
Nothing. A case evaluation here is free, it can happen by phone, and if you cannot travel an attorney comes to your home or your hospital room. Calling early does not commit you to anything. It keeps options open while they still exist.
- Statute of limitationsSets the time to start a lawsuit for an injury or a death caused by someone else's negligence, often two years, usually counted from the injury.
- Statute of limitations, other harmClaims for other kinds of negligent harm usually carry their own time limit, which is often the same as for a bodily injury.
- Notice of claim against a public bodyA claim against a town, a county or a public agency can require a written statement filed within months, naming who was hurt and the date, time and place.
- Tolling for minorsIn many states the clock for a child's own claim does not start until the child becomes an adult, although a parent's claim can run sooner.
