Understanding the Statute of Limitations in Personal Injury Cases

The most important deadline in any personal injury case is the statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is literally a state law—so it’s different by state—that tells you when you have to file a claim in court or you lose the right to file that claim forever. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already been talking to the insurance company. It doesn’t matter if they made a settlement offer you didn’t accept. When the statute of limitations passes, you’re done, and they won’t offer you any money anymore. Now, what is the statute of limitations related to your case, and can’t you just Google something like that? Like everything with Google, the answer is yes, you can—but you better be careful, because you might not get the right answer. So depending on the state where you live, the statute of limitations on a personal injury claim is going to be something like one or two years. But it differs. In Ohio, for example, it’s two years for every type of injury. However, in Kentucky, the statute of limitations is one year for most injuries, but two years for motor vehicle collisions. And from where do you measure that one or two years? Most of the time, it’s from the date you were hurt. But sometimes the statute will give you a different date. So for example, in Kentucky, for a motor vehicle collision, it’s actually two years from the date of the last PIP payment, which is your no-fault benefits on your auto insurance policy. If you don’t get any PIP payments, then it’s two years from the date of your injury. But what about something like a wrongful death? Well, that can get complicated again, because a wrongful death statute of limitations is often measured from the date an administrator is appointed. And in some cases, it can be measured both from the date the administrator is appointed and from the date of death—but not the date of the original injury if that happened before the death. So when you Google, there’s a lot of variation. That means your case may fall into one timeline or another timeline, and it can be very difficult to know which one is accurate. If you’re not sure what statute of limitations applies to your case, give us a call at Lawrence & Associates. During the intake process, we can help you figure out that statute of limitations—and hopefully, you’ll be impressed with us enough that you stay with us throughout the remainder of your case.