Statute of Limitations Definition and Deadline

If you are injured in a car accident or due to medical malpractice you must understand the statute of limitations. There are instances where the timeframe is tolled. Therefore, knowing this can make the difference between recovering from an accident or not. This article will discuss statute of limitations and a subsequent one will discuss tolling of these timeframes.

Statute of Limitations Definition and Deadline

By definition the statute of limitations is “any law that bars claims after a certain period of time passes after the injury. Statute of limitations exist for both civil and criminal causes of action, and begin to run from the date of the injury, or the date it was discovered, or the date on which it would have been discovered with reasonable efforts.” Therefore, it is a law that sets a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit.

It is possible for a victim to be informed that the timeframe has passed their personal injury case. They may be informed this by an insurance company or defendant. However, if it is tolled, there may still be time to file a lawsuit.

Every state has a set time limit where legal action must be taken on a case. Failure to file a case within this timeframe will result in being barred from taking such legal action. These time limits are referred to as statute of limitations. There are different time limits for personal injury cases and other types of cases including criminal laws or contract cases.

Different types of statutes of limitations may apply to cases involving a personal injury case. For example, there may be a specific time limit to bring forth a case involving a medical malpractice case that is different from a slip-and-fall case. However, by standard, the state of Florida provides for a four-year period as the timeframe in personal injury cases.