Statute of limitations basics

A statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit — and it is the most unforgiving rule in all of civil law. Personal injury claims typically carry a one- to six-year window depending on the state, with two to three years the most common; written-contract claims usually run three to ten years; and claims against a government body can require formal notice in as little as 60 days. Miss the deadline and the strength of your evidence stops mattering: the claim is barred, permanently, and no attorney can revive it. This guide explains when the clock starts, the discovery rule and tolling exceptions that can pause it, why government claims are a trap of their own, and the one habit — confirming your specific deadline early — that removes the entire risk.

Why deadlines exist — and why courts enforce them without mercy

Limitations periods serve evidence, not defendants. Memories fade, witnesses scatter, camera footage is overwritten, and businesses purge records — so the law forces claims to be brought while proof still exists. The policy explains the enforcement: courts dismiss late claims at the threshold, before any look at the merits, because the merits are exactly what time has degraded. For claimants the practical translation is asymmetrical. Filing early costs nothing — a case filed at month six of a 24-month window proceeds identically to one filed at month 23. Filing late costs everything. That asymmetry is why every competent attorney calendars the limitations date at the first consultation, and why "how long do I have?" should be the first question you ask at yours.

Typical windows by claim type

Exact deadlines are state law, but the national patterns are consistent enough to orient you:

• Personal injury and auto accidents — one to six years; two or three years in most states, with a handful allowing only one. Applies to car accidents, general injury claims, and dog attacks.
• Wrongful death — commonly one to three years, usually measured from the date of death rather than the underlying accident; see our wrongful death fees page.
• Medical malpractice — often two to three years, heavily modified by discovery rules and by outer "repose" limits described below.
• Property damage — frequently longer than injury, three to six years in many states; first-party insurance claims may also face shorter contractual suit deadlines written into the policy itself.
• Written contracts — three to ten years; oral contracts shorter, often two to six.
• Claims against government entities — formal notice within 60 days to one year, then a shortened suit window. The harshest category by far.

Treat every figure above as orientation, not authority: the controlling number is your state's statute for your claim type, on your facts.

When the clock starts: accrual and the discovery rule

The default rule is simple: the clock starts when the claim accrues — the date of the crash, the breach, the bite. The discovery rule handles the cases where that would be absurd: when the injury or its cause is hidden, the clock starts only when you knew or reasonably should have known of it. A surgical sponge discovered five years after the operation, a disease surfacing decades after exposure, a fraud concealed by the person committing it — each starts its own clock at discovery. Two cautions keep the rule honest. Firstly, "should have known" is objective: ignoring symptoms or red flags starts the clock anyway. Secondly, many states pair discovery rules with a statute of repose — an absolute outer limit (commonly six to ten years in malpractice and construction) that cuts off even undiscovered claims. Discovery arguments are fact-intensive and state-specific: they are a reason to see a lawyer quickly, never a reason to wait.

Tolling: the pauses the law allows

Tolling stops the limitations clock while a recognized disability makes filing unfair. The common grounds: minority — most states pause the period while the injured person is under 18, starting it at adulthood, though claim-notice deadlines and repose limits may still run; mental incapacity, during adjudicated incompetence; defendant absence or concealment, while a defendant hides from service or fraudulently conceals the claim; bankruptcy stays, while an automatic stay bars suit against a debtor; and tolling agreements, in which the parties contractually pause the deadline — a tool insurers sometimes accept to keep settlement negotiations alive. What never tolls the clock: negotiation without an agreement, an insurer "still reviewing" your claim, or your own uncertainty. Adjusters know the deadline in your state to the day; slow-walking a claim toward it is a tactic with a name, and the cure is filing.

The government-claim trap

Suing a public entity — a city bus, a county road defect, a state hospital — runs on a separate, far shorter track. Sovereign-immunity statutes in most states require a formal notice of claim within months of the incident — 60 days in some states, six months or a year in others — served on the right office, in the right form, with the right contents, before any lawsuit may be filed. Miss the notice and the claim can die years before the ordinary statute of limitations would have run. The trap is invisible precisely because the general deadline looks comfortable: a two-year injury window means nothing if the 90-day notice passed while you were finishing physical therapy. Any incident involving a government vehicle, employee, or property is a same-month legal consultation, not a someday one.

What this means for your fees — and your next step

Deadlines and fees intersect in one direction: urgency is free, delay is expensive. A claim brought early settles on its merits; a claim near its deadline forces a rushed filing — sometimes at hourly rates for emergency work a contingency firm would have absorbed with more runway — and a claim past its deadline has a value of zero, the one number no damages analysis can fix. The habit that removes all of it: after any injury or dispute, confirm the specific deadline for your claim type in your state within the first weeks — our state pages pair local fee data with each state's legal context, and a free consultation will put your exact date on paper. Then the deadline becomes a calendar entry instead of a risk.