How long you have to file a lawsuit usually falls somewhere between one and six years from the event that caused the harm, but the exact deadline depends on the type of claim and the state where you file. These deadlines are called statutes of limitations, and missing one almost always ends your right to sue permanently, no matter how strong the underlying case is. Several things can shift the window in either direction, so the ranges below are a starting point, not a final answer for your situation.
Deadlines by Type of Claim
Every state sets its own numbers, and the clock length depends on what kind of claim you’re bringing. These are the ranges you’ll see across most of the country:
- Personal injury: One to six years from the date of the injury, most commonly two or three. This covers car accidents, slip-and-fall incidents, dog bites, and similar claims.
- Medical malpractice: One to four years, most commonly two. Many states also impose a hard outer deadline called a statute of repose that cuts off claims regardless of when the injury is discovered.
- Wrongful death: One to three years from the date of death, most commonly two.
- Written contracts: Four to six years from the date the contract was broken.
- Oral contracts: Two to six years, generally shorter than written-contract deadlines because oral agreements are harder to prove over time.
- Property damage: Two to six years from the date the damage occurred.
- Fraud: Two to six years, though many states start the clock when the fraud is discovered rather than when it was committed.
- Defamation: One to two years in most states, among the shortest windows in civil law.
A personal injury claim that gets three years in one state may get only one in a neighboring state. Identifying which state’s law applies and looking up the exact number early is the single most important step in protecting the right to sue.
Workplace Discrimination Claims
Discrimination claims under federal law follow a different path. Before filing a lawsuit, you must file a formal charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The deadline is 180 calendar days from the discriminatory act, extended to 300 days if your state has its own agency enforcing a similar anti-discrimination law.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
Federal Civil Rights Claims
Lawsuits brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which covers things like police misconduct or constitutional violations by government officials, have no filing deadline written into the federal statute. Courts borrow the personal injury statute of limitations from the state where the incident happened.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1988 – Proceedings in Vindication of Civil Rights A § 1983 claim in a state with a two-year personal injury deadline must be filed within two years; in a state with a three-year deadline, you get the extra year.
When the Clock Starts
The deadline begins on a legal date called the “date of accrual.” In the ordinary case, accrual happens on the day the harm occurs. A car accident starts the clock on the date of the collision. A broken contract starts it on the day the other side failed to perform.
Injuries that aren’t obvious right away follow a different rule. Most states apply the discovery rule: the clock doesn’t start until you knew, or reasonably should have known, about the injury. The classic example is a surgeon who leaves an instrument inside a patient. Symptoms may not appear for months or years, and under the discovery rule the deadline begins when the patient discovers the problem, not on the date of surgery.3Justia. Statutes of Limitations and the Discovery Rule in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits The rule commonly applies to fraud claims as well, where the point of the conduct was to keep you from finding out.
Things That Can Pause or Extend the Deadline
Even after the clock starts, certain circumstances can pause it. This pause is called “tolling,” and it freezes the countdown until the qualifying condition ends.
- Minor plaintiffs: If the injured person is under 18, the clock typically pauses until they turn 18, and the normal filing period then begins.
- Mental incapacity: If the plaintiff has been declared legally incapacitated, the deadline pauses until the incapacity ends or a legal representative is appointed.
- Defendant’s absence from the state: If the person you need to sue leaves the state, many states pause the clock for the period they’re gone, since serving them with papers is difficult.
- Fraudulent concealment: When a defendant actively hides wrongdoing, courts may toll the deadline so the defendant doesn’t benefit from the concealment.
Military Service
Active-duty service members are covered by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. A service member’s period of military service cannot be counted when calculating any filing deadline.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 US Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations If a service member has two years to file and then enters active duty for 18 months, the clock freezes for those 18 months and resumes after separation. The protection applies whether the service member is suing or being sued, and there’s no requirement to show that service actually interfered with filing.
Equitable Tolling
Courts can also extend a deadline through a doctrine called equitable tolling, which functions as a safety valve rather than a regular rule. To qualify, you generally have to show that you pursued your rights with reasonable diligence and that some extraordinary circumstance beyond your control prevented you from filing on time. Courts apply this sparingly. A lawyer’s miscalculation or simple ignorance of the law almost never qualifies. Think along the lines of a courthouse being physically inaccessible, or a defendant who actively tricked you into thinking you had no claim.
Statutes of Repose: A Separate Hard Cutoff
A statute of repose works differently from a statute of limitations, and the distinction catches people off guard. A statute of limitations starts when you discover the injury; a statute of repose starts from a fixed event regardless of whether anyone has been hurt yet. Once it expires, the right to sue is gone even if the injury hasn’t happened or been discovered.
These deadlines show up most often in construction defect and products liability cases. In construction, the repose period typically runs from the date the project was substantially completed, and across states these periods commonly range from five to ten years after completion. A building finished in 2020 in a state with a seven-year statute of repose can’t be the subject of a construction defect claim after 2027, even if the defect first becomes apparent in 2028.
The practical difference matters. The discovery rule generally does not apply to statutes of repose. Tolling for minority or incapacity usually doesn’t apply either. Courts treat the endpoint as essentially immovable.
Government Claims Have Shorter Deadlines
Suing a government entity, whether federal, state, or local, involves extra procedural steps with much shorter deadlines. The biggest trap is the notice-of-claim requirement: before filing a lawsuit, you usually must submit a written administrative claim to the responsible agency.
Federal Claims
Claims against the federal government fall under the Federal Tort Claims Act. You cannot sue the federal government directly. You must first submit an administrative claim to the responsible federal agency, and the agency must deny it before you can file in court.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2675 – Disposition by Federal Agency as Prerequisite The administrative claim must be filed within two years of the date the injury occurred. If the agency denies it, you have six months from the date of the denial letter to file a lawsuit in federal court.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States
State and Local Claims
State and local governments impose their own notice-of-claim requirements, often far shorter than the federal window. Many jurisdictions require a notice of claim within 90 to 180 days of the injury. Missing this preliminary deadline blocks the lawsuit entirely, even if the underlying statute of limitations hasn’t expired. The specifics vary widely, so checking your jurisdiction’s rules immediately after an injury involving a government entity is critical.
What Happens if You File Late
If you file after the statute of limitations has expired, the defendant can ask the court to dismiss the case as time-barred. The statute of limitations is classified as an “affirmative defense,” meaning the defendant must raise it in their initial response. If they fail to raise it, the defense is waived and the case can proceed.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading
In practice, defendants almost never forget. Any competent attorney checks the timeline, and once the defense is raised, courts have no discretion to override it. The case is dismissed without anyone examining the underlying facts. Overwhelming evidence, sympathetic circumstances, a clearly liable defendant, none of it matters once the deadline has passed. If you think you might have a claim, the deadline question should be the first thing you investigate, not the last.