If you dealt with any type of injury, be it in an accident at work or on the road, filing a personal injury claim is extremely important. The problem that a lot of people are dealing with is the fact that they don’t know how much time they have until the opportunity to file a claim disappears. Yes, it’s not like you can be involved in an accident today and you can file the claim in 5 years. There’s a statute of limitations that you need to abide by.
What is the statute of limitations?
Since people were trying to file claims well beyond the date those accidents took place, a law called statute of limitations had to be created. That sets the amount of time you have to initiate legal proceedings if a harmful event or an injury occurs. Once that timeline expires, you won’t be able to file a claim.
Why does the statute of limitations exist? It’s meant to encourage timely claims, while promoting a sense of fairness. And on top of that, it can protect defendants from any indefinite legal exposure. Plus, it’s also meant to preserve the evidence, which might get lost or damaged if many years pass by.
What’s the general timeline to file a personal injury claim?
It depends, but for most states it’s normally 2 years from the date of the injury. But it also varies based on the nature of the claim. The average is 2 years, but it could be anywhere from 1-4 years, depending on the case and where you live. That’s why you want to hire the best San Luis Obispo Personal injury lawyer, so you can get access to local knowledge and professional representation in the court of law.
When does the clock start running?
That’s important to know, because you do need to get started and file for a personal injury claim as quickly as you can. The reality is that the clock starts running when:
- For most cases, it starts running from the date of the injury. So if an accident took place on June 1st 2026, you have until June 1st 2028 to file for a claim.
- Then, there’s the discovery rule. This allows the statute of limitation to begin when the injury was discovered. It’s less common when compared to the previous situation. But it can be used for medical malpractice cases, occupational diseases, defective products, toxic exposure and other stuff like that.
The deadline for various personal injury claims
- If you had a car accident, the statute of limitations will vary from state to state. But in general, it’s 2 years, at most 3 years in some states. However, things change if a government vehicle is involved, in that situation you have a much shorter deadline.
- When you deal with a slip and fall accident, you also have a 2-year timeline. But again, if there are governmental properties involved, then you have a few months at most to report and file a claim.
- Medical malpractice situations will have a short statute of limitations. They also have discovery rule exceptions and many other requirements. That’s why you want to know everything, and it will help make things better overall.
- What about product liability? These claims will also follow the standard timeline. However, there can be a statute of repose, based on the manufacturer or sales date.
- For wrongful death cases, you will have 1-2 years as a statute of limitations.
Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course, for example if the injured person is mentally incapacitated, then that will be an issue. The same thing is valid when it comes to minors or defendant absence, that might pause the clock for the statute of limitations.
What happens if you miss the statute of limitations deadline?
Simply put, if you get past the statute of limitations, you will not be able to sue the other party anymore. You also lose the settlement leverage. And, of course, you also lose the option to recover any compensation for your lost wages, medical bills or any pain and suffering. Rest assured that insurance companies are very serious when handling this type of deadlines, and you really want to address those things with a San Luis Obispo Personal injury lawyer.
Closing thoughts
The advantage that comes from filing a personal injury claim fast is that you can avoid dealing with issues like the statute of limitations. You always want to file claims quickly, just so you can prevent any problems that might arise. And while it might not be the simplest thing to do since you need to acquire evidence to back up everything, filing a claim is always worth it. That’s why you never want to dismiss this type of thing, and instead work with a professional lawyer to help streamline the process!