Personal Injury Statute of Limitations Laws: When to File Your Claim...

Knowing your state's personal injury statute of limitations laws is critical to filing your injury case on time.

Each type of crime has a limitation statute associated with it. This statute outlines how long the police have to lay charges. The length of time differs from state to state for each crime, and some crimes have no statute of limitation at all.

In civil cases the same is true. The law in each state outlines how long a person can wait to file a personal injury lawsuit.

These statutes exist for several reasons:

First, it's considered unfair for a person to be uncertain if they are going to be charged or held liable for something for an extended period of time.

Second, it's assumed that after a certain amount of time a fair hearing would be impossible, because memories fade and details are lost.

There are no statute of limitations laws for filing personal injury insurance claims. As long as it's possible to go ahead with a lawsuit, you can file a claim. (Click here for the difference between a claim & lawsuit.)

After an accident you should find out the length of time you legally have to file. In most states you've got at least a year, but some states offer as long as six years.

No matter what the personal injury statute of limitations is in your state remember, laws change, so make sure you check an up-to-date source.

As long as you follow the relevant statute of limitations laws and file your claim with the insurance company in time, they can't do a whole lot to brush you off. Some adjusters might say you waited too long - just to throw you off - but don't let that happen.

This doesn't mean you should wait to file. If you do wait a long time, then the insurance company has the right to ask why you delayed in filing. Maybe you didn't know who was at fault, or that your injuries made it difficult for you to proceed. You should never admit that your wait was unreasonable.

The insurance company can try to show that the wait was unreasonable, making it impossible for them to establish a case. They might say they were unable to investigate a scene, or that evidence was lost or destroyed while the injured person waited to file.

There's an important exception in personal injury statute of limitations laws:

Claims against the government have much shorter limitation statutes. There's always a strict time limit to file a claim and the lawsuit limitation statute doesn't apply.

In fact, with the government you can't file a lawsuit until you have filed a claim that was denied. If there's a possibility you may have to file against the government, look into it right away. Personal injury statute of limitations for filing against the government can be as short as thirty days.

A final note: The applicable statute of limitations laws are from the state where the accident happened, not the state where you live.