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Statutes of Limitations: Only an Expert Can Deal with Them Properly
Posted by: David Abney
August 04, 2010

Thanks to books, television, and movies, a surprising number of adult Americans understand that there are strict time limits for bringing a personal-injury or wrongful-death case. But many adults still do not know about those time limits. And even among those adults who do, they often do not realize how little time they have to protect their legal rights. This article will help you understand the complications and dangers connected with the time limits for suing and for presenting claims.

Let's start with the term "statute of limitations." A "statute of limitations" is a law setting a time limit on bringing a legal claim or filing a lawsuit. All states -- and the federal government -- have statutes of limitations for filing claims and lawsuits. And they can be vastly different. Some states, like Minnesota, have a six-year statute of limitations for personal-injury cases. Other states, like Kentucky and Tennessee, have a one-year statute of limitations for personal-injury cases. So although you can loaf a bit in some places, swift action is key in others.

But what about situations where you don't even know that you have been hurt until your symptoms appear? For instance, a worker negligently exposed to asbestos may not show symptoms until decades later -- and then a painful death will swiftly come. A surgical patient may not realize that the surgeon has left scissors inside the patient's abdomen until years later, when the scissors shift and pain erupts. To make allowance for that, most states, and the federal government, have decided that the time does not start running on a claim or lawsuit until the injured person knows, or reasonably should know, both that there has been an injury and who caused it. That is called the "discovery rule."

But there are many other dangers and complications. For instance, if you were injured by a public employee or a public entity (federal, state, county, local), there are special rules. In Arizona, for example, a person injured by a state or local employee acting for a public entity only has 180 days from the date of injury to file a notice of claim with the public entity. And there is only a one-year statute of limitations for suing the public entity and the public employees. If the injured person fails to file a proper and timely notice of claim within the 180-day deadline, the entire case is over. For federal claims, the time limit for filing a notice of claim is two years, with other special rules on filing a lawsuit.

The law provides some leeway for minors and for people of unsound mind. Most jurisdictions stop ("toll") statutes of limitations for minors and for people who are mentally unable to protect their legal rights. But once the minor becomes an adult, or the person of unsound mind gains the capacity to protect that person's rights, the time starts running again.

Statutes of limitations have so many rules and exceptions that only an expert can hope to unravel them properly. Deal with statutes of limitations yourself, and you may soon discover that you have lost your claim and destroyed your lawsuit. Any time you have a wrongful-death claim, or a serious personal-injury case, the best thing you can do is to contact Knapp & Roberts at once for professional, expert advice on the relevant statutes of limitations. Any delay could be fatal.

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