Deadlines · All 50 states + DC
Short answer: in most states you have two or three years (42 of the 51 jurisdictions) to file a personal injury lawsuit after an accident. The shortest deadline is one year, in Kentucky and Tennessee, although both allow longer in some car crash cases; the longest is six years, in Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota. The clock usually starts on the day of the injury. Claims against a government body have much shorter notice deadlines, often months.
A statute of limitations is the deadline to file a lawsuit in court. It is not the deadline to call an insurer. In general, talks with an insurer do not pause it (a few no-fault states, such as Kentucky and Hawaii, start the car crash clock from the last no-fault payment; see the table). If the deadline passes, the court will almost always dismiss the case, however strong it is.
The table below gives the general deadline for a negligence injury claim, such as a car crash, in every state and DC. Each row links to the statute itself. Last checked: October 17, 2026.
Personal injury deadline by state
| State | Deadline | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2 years | Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l) |
| Alaska | 2 years | Alaska Stat. § 09.10.070(a) |
| Arizona | 2 years | A.R.S. § 12-542(1) |
| Arkansas | 3 years | Ark. Code § 16-56-105 |
| California | 2 years | Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 |
| Colorado | 2 years | C.R.S. § 13-80-102(1)(a) 3 years for motor vehicle accidents, C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n) |
| Connecticut | 2 years | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584 |
| Delaware | 2 years | 10 Del. C. § 8119 |
| District of Columbia | 3 years | D.C. Code § 12-301(a)(8) |
| Florida | 2 years | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(a) 4 years for negligence causes of action that accrued on or before March 24, 2023 (ch. 2023-15, § 28) |
| Georgia | 2 years | O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 |
| Hawaii | 2 years | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7 Motor vehicle accidents: 2 years from the accident or from the last no-fault/PIP or workers' comp payment, whichever is later, Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-315(b) |
| Idaho | 2 years | Idaho Code § 5-219(4) |
| Illinois | 2 years | 735 ILCS 5/13-202 |
| Indiana | 2 years | Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4(a) |
| Iowa | 2 years | Iowa Code § 614.1(2) |
| Kansas | 2 years | K.S.A. § 60-513(a)(4) |
| Kentucky | 1 year | KRS § 413.140(1)(a) 2 years for motor vehicle accidents covered by the MVRA: from the injury, death or last no-fault payment, whichever is later, KRS § 304.39-230(6) |
| Louisiana | 2 years | La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 1 year for claims that arose on or before July 1, 2024 (former art. 3492) |
| Maine | 6 years | 14 M.R.S. § 752 |
| Maryland | 3 years | Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 |
| Massachusetts | 3 years | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 2A |
| Michigan | 3 years | MCL § 600.5805(2) |
| Minnesota | 6 years | Minn. Stat. § 541.05, subd. 1(5) |
| Mississippi | 3 years | Miss. Code § 15-1-49(1) |
| Missouri | 5 years | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120(4) |
| Montana | 3 years | Mont. Code § 27-2-204(1) |
| Nebraska | 4 years | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207(3) |
| Nevada | 2 years | NRS § 11.190(4)(e) |
| New Hampshire | 3 years | RSA § 508:4(I) Discovery rule: if the injury and its cause could not reasonably be discovered, 3 years run from discovery |
| New Jersey | 2 years | N.J.S.A. § 2A:14-2(a) |
| New Mexico | 3 years | NMSA § 37-1-8 |
| New York | 3 years | N.Y. CPLR § 214(5) Car crashes are no-fault (Ins. Law art. 51) cases: suing for pain and suffering requires a 'serious injury' (Ins. Law § 5102(d), § 5104), narrowed for actions filed on/after 2026-05-26 |
| North Carolina | 3 years | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(16) (also § 1-52(5)) § 1-52(16) also has a 10-year repose from the defendant's last act |
| North Dakota | 6 years | N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16(5) Wrongful death: 2 years (§ 28-01-18(4)) |
| Ohio | 2 years | Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10(A) |
| Oklahoma | 2 years | 12 Okla. Stat. § 95(A)(3) |
| Oregon | 2 years | ORS § 12.110(1) |
| Pennsylvania | 2 years | 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2), (7) |
| Rhode Island | 3 years | R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14(b) |
| South Carolina | 3 years | S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5) |
| South Dakota | 3 years | SDCL § 15-2-14(3) |
| Tennessee | 1 year | Tenn. Code § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A) 2 years under § 28-3-104(a)(2) when criminal charges are brought against the at-fault person for the conduct (courts have counted traffic citations) and the injured person sues that person |
| Texas | 2 years | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) |
| Utah | 4 years | Utah Code § 78B-2-307(4) |
| Vermont | 3 years | 12 V.S.A. § 512(4) Discovery rule: accrues on discovery of the injury |
| Virginia | 2 years | Va. Code § 8.01-243(A) |
| Washington | 3 years | RCW § 4.16.080(2) |
| West Virginia | 2 years | W. Va. Code § 55-2-12(b) |
| Wisconsin | 3 years | Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a) Wrongful death from a motor-vehicle accident: 2 years (§ 893.54(2m)) |
| Wyoming | 4 years | Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(iv)(C) |
In numbers: 25 jurisdictions give 2 years, 17 give 3, three give 4 (Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming), Missouri gives 5, and Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota give 6. Kentucky and Tennessee give 1.
Recent changes
Two states changed their deadline recently, and many pages online have not caught up:
- Florida (2023). House Bill 837 cut the deadline for negligence claims from four years to two, for causes of action that accrue after March 24, 2023 (chapter 2023-15, section 28). Claims that accrued on or before that date keep four years.
- Louisiana (2024). Act 423 created a two-year deadline in Civil Code article 3493.1 for claims arising after July 1, 2024, and repealed the old one-year rule in article 3492. Before that, Louisiana shared the shortest deadline in the country.
When the clock starts
For a car crash, the clock normally starts on the day of the crash. That is the day the injury happened, and you knew about it.
Some injuries are not obvious at first. Many states apply a discovery rule: the clock starts when you knew, or reasonably should have known, that you were injured and what caused it. Courts apply it narrowly in crash cases, because the injury is usually clear from day one. Don’t count on it.
Exceptions that change the deadline
- Government defendants. If a city bus, a police car or a badly kept public road was involved, most states require a formal notice of claim first, often within months: 90 days in New York (General Municipal Law § 50-e), six months in California. California’s rule is in Government Code § 911.2. Federal vehicles fall under the Federal Tort Claims Act: two years to file an administrative claim, then six months to sue after the agency denies it, under 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b).
- Minors. In most states the clock for a child’s own injury claim is paused (tolled) until the child turns 18. The rules vary, and a parent’s own claim for medical bills can run on the normal clock.
- Wrongful death. A claim by family members after a fatal crash usually has its own statute, and the clock often starts at the date of death. See the wrongful death deadline in every state.
- Property damage. The deadline for damage to your car is often different from the injury deadline, sometimes longer.
- Defendant out of state. Some states pause the clock while the defendant is absent from the state. Many have limited or abolished this rule for drivers, since out-of-state drivers can be served through the state.
- Medical malpractice. If the injury came from treatment after the crash, malpractice deadlines apply, and they are often shorter or have a hard outer limit.
Filing a lawsuit is what stops the clock. A letter to the insurer, a claim number or a settlement offer does not. If you are within a few months of the deadline, speak to a licensed attorney in the state where the crash happened now.
How this table was checked
Each row was read in the state’s own code: the official legislature site where it could be opened, otherwise a free legal library copy of the code (FindLaw, Justia or public.law), which is the copy the row links to. An independent second check then went row by row, with one instruction: find errors. The deadline in the table is the general one for negligence injury claims. When a state has a different rule for car accidents, the row says so.
Laws change. If you find a row that is out of date, send the link to the new law and it will be corrected and logged.
Related guides
- Comparative negligence by state: how your own share of fault changes what you recover.
- What to do after a car accident: the scene and the first 30 days.
- How contingency fees work: what an injury lawyer will take from a settlement.
- Wrongful death statute of limitations by state: the separate deadline after a fatal accident.
General information, not legal advice. Deadlines have exceptions that depend on the facts; check the statute or ask a licensed attorney in your state.