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IS YOUR CASE TIME-BARRED? Information on the “Statute of Limitations” What is the “Statute of Limitations”?
There is a rule of law known as the statute of limitations, whereby, any person who has been injured through an accident or by any product and who wishes to file a lawsuit for recovery of damages, needs to do so within a particular time limit. If the lawsuit is not filed within the statute of limitations, then any legal right of the injured party will be lost forever and he or she will no longer have the option to sue for recovery of any money or other compensation.
In the United States there is no set statute of limitations for the entire country but each state has its own statute of limitations for product liability and personal injury claims.
* Alabama 2 years
* Arkansas 2 years
* Arizona 2 years
* Arkansas 2 years
* California 2 years
* Colorado 2 years
* Connecticut 2 years
* Delaware 2 years
* District of Columbia (D.C.) 3 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
* Louisiana 1 year
* Maine 6 years
* Maryland 3 years
* Massachusetts 3 years
* Michigan 3 years
* Minnesota 2 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 When does the clock begin to run on my claim under the “statute of limitations”? - A: It depends. States decide on when the time limits begin to run for injuries. The 2 most common start-times are either WHEN THE INJURY OCCURRED or WHEN THE INJURY WAS DISCOVERED. The choice varies from state to state.
When the Injury Occurred In some states, the statute of limitations begins to run when the injury actually occurs. This can have harsh consequences if the injured person doesn’t discover the injury until after the statute of limitations has already expired. When the Injury is Discovered In many states, the statute of limitations begins to run only when the injured person discovers (or should have discovered) the injury. For example, let’s say you were injured by inhaling fumes from a defective chemical product and you discovered your injury years later when your doctor diagnosed you with lung damage. In a state with an injury-discovery rule, the time limit on your defective product claim would begin to run on the date of your lung damage diagnosis (that is, when you discovered your injury), not when you inhaled the noxious fumes (in other words, when the injury actually occurred). In these states the statute of limitation can begin to run when the injured person should have discovered the injury. The "should have discovered" part of this rule means that the deadline may start to run even though you do not actually know you have been injured. For example, in the lung injury hypothetical mentioned above, let's say you develop a terrible cough but delay going to a doctor for several months. A court might decide that the statute of limitations started to run when you developed the cough, as opposed to when you finally went to the doctor, because you should have discovered your injury when you first developed the serious cough. These issues are likely to arise only if your claim is on the edge of being timely, so the sooner you file your claim, the better.
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