How long do I have to file my lawsuit?

How much time do you have to file a lawsuit? No one-size-fits-all answer exists. Every state has its own time limits, and even within a state the period of time in which you must file a lawsuit varies according to the type of claim. For example, rules in one state may allow a plaintiff with a personal injury claim (such as a broken leg) one year from the date of injury to file suit and a plaintiff with a breach of contract claim (such as failure to make good on a promissory note) four years from the date of breach to sue. In another state, personal injury plaintiffs may have two years to sue, and plaintiffs with breach of contract claims may have five years.

Once you file a complaint on time, a statute of limitations has nothing to do with how long it takes for a case to conclude. However, most states do have separate "diligent prosecution" statutes, which require you to move your case to trial within a certain time period or face dismissal.

When does the clock start ticking?

Once you have ascertained what statute of limitations applies to your case, your next step is to determine when the clock starts ticking. In most situations the time starts to run on the "date of harm." However, a huge exception to this general rule exists. The exception protects plaintiffs in situations where they may not be aware for months or even years that they have been harmed. In such situations, statutes of limitations may begin the clock ticking either on the "date of discovery" of the harm, or on the date on which the plaintiff "should have discovered" the harm. In short, for some types of legal actions the statute of limitations clock can start ticking at three different times!

• Earliest: The date of harm.
  
  
• Later: The date on which the plaintiff reasonably should have discovered the harm. This refers to the date when a judge considers it fair to say that the plaintiff should have known about the harm, even if the plaintiff didn't actually know about it.
  
  
• Latest: The date on which the plaintiff actually discovered the harm.

Example 1: On January 1, a doctor performs a gallbladder operation on Phoebe, but mistakenly removes Phoebe's spleen. The doctor tells Phoebe of the screwup as soon as she wakes up. Phoebe's time period for suing the doctor begins to run on January 1, since the harm occurred on that date and Phoebe actually knew about it. If a two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice applies to Phoebe's case, she'd have two years from January 1 to file a lawsuit against the doctor.

Example 2: Same case, except the doctor tells Phoebe nothing of the surgical screwup. Phoebe is in constant pain following the January 1 surgery. A month later, on February 1, Phoebe talks to another doctor who tells her that she should not be in pain and that she should immediately come in to have it checked out. Phoebe delays going to the doctor until July 1 of the same year, at which time she finds out that her spleen had been removed mistakenly on January 1. In this situation, Phoebe's time period for suing the doctor probably begins to run on February 1, because the pain coupled with the second doctor's advice determines when Phoebe should reasonably have discovered the harm.

Example 3: Same case, except that Phoebe suffers no unusual after-effects following the January 1 surgery. Phoebe is unaware that anything went wrong with the surgery until July 1 of the same year, when an x-ray during a routine medical checkup reveals that her spleen was removed. In this situation, since Phoebe did not discover and could not reasonably have discovered the harm until July 1, most states would measure Phoebe's time to sue from July 1.

What are the various statutes of limitations in all 50 states?

The chart below sets out statutes of limitations for some of the most common causes of action in all 50 states.