Pennsylvania Personal Injury Laws and Statutes of Limitations

Chances are you found your way here because you've been injured in Pennsylvania and you're thinking about bringing an insurance claim or filing a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible party. But you've got questions. How long do I have to file my case in court? Can I sue the Commonwealth for causing my injury? What happens if I was partly to blame for what happened?

You've come to the right place. We'll fill you in on the basics of Pennsylvania personal injury law, starting with the deadlines to file personal injury lawsuits.

Pennsylvania's Statutes of Limitations for Personal Injury Lawsuits

A "statute of limitations" is a law that puts a deadline on your time to file a lawsuit in court. Miss the filing deadline and, absent an extension that gives you more time, your legal claim is dead. Nothing you do will bring it back to life. Stated more directly, the statute of limitations is a claim killer.

We start with Pennsylvania's two-year personal injury general rule, then we'll take a look at different rules that apply in specific cases.

The General Rule: Two Years From the Date You're Injured

You'll find Pennsylvania's general rule—the statute of limitations that applies to most personal injury cases—at 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5524(2) (2024). A lawsuit for "injuries to the person or for the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect or unlawful violence or negligence of another" must be filed within two years, usually from the date of injury or death.

This two-year rule applies to lawsuits for:

• automobile accidents (when Pennsylvania's no-fault auto insurance law lets you take a negligent driver to court)
• premises liability, for slip-and-fall and other injuries on a dangerous or poorly maintained property
• product liability, when you're hurt by a dangerous or defective product
• dog bites and other animal attack injuries
• medical malpractice, and
• when injuries cause death, wrongful death lawsuits.

Other Pennsylvania Personal Injury Statutes of Limitations

Pennsylvania's two-year general rule isn't a one-size-fits-all statute of limitations. Different rules apply in specific kinds of personal injury cases.

Defamation of character. When someone makes an untrue statement of fact about you that injures your reputation in the community, the law calls it "defamation." You can file a defamation lawsuit to recover for your injuries, but you'll need to act quickly. The deadline to sue for libel (written defamation) or slander (spoken defamation) is one year, usually starting on the date a defamatory statement is first made about you. (42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5523(1) (2024).)

Intentional injuries. Most personal injuries result from negligence, meaning carelessness. Sometimes, though, injuries are caused by intentional misconduct. You have two years to bring a lawsuit for:

• assault and battery
• false arrest
• false imprisonment, and
• malicious prosecution.

(42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5524(1) (2024).)

The filing deadline typically runs from the date you're injured.

Can I Get an Extension of the Pennsylvania Statute of Limitations?

Sometimes, yes. Pennsylvania law recognizes a few situations when letting the statute of limitations run would be unfair. In those situations, the law might delay the start of the limitation period, or "toll" (temporarily pause) the deadline clock. Here are some examples.

You're unable to start a lawsuit. In order to start a lawsuit, you must "serve" (formally deliver) the lawsuit papers to the defendant. That can be difficult when the defendant (the party you're suing) is outside the Commonwealth or goes into hiding inside Pennsylvania.

42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5532 (2024) addresses this problem. The statute of limitations doesn't run when you can't serve the defendant because:

• at the time you were injured, the defendant lived outside Pennsylvania, or
• after your injury, the defendant left Pennsylvania or lived in the state under a false name that was unknown to you.

The clock starts (or resumes) running when the defendant returns to Pennsylvania or you discover their false identity. Your lawyer can fill you in on the details regarding service of process.

Injured person is a minor. Minors (those younger than 18 years old) usually can't file a lawsuit without help from a parent or guardian, so the law gives them extra time. When a minor who hasn't been declared emancipated is injured in Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations doesn't start running until their 18th birthday. (42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5533(b)(1)(i) (2024).)

You don't know you've been injured. Remember that as a rule, the statute of limitations clock starts ticking as soon as you're injured. In most personal injury cases, there's nothing unfair about this because you immediately know when you've been hurt. Pain and other symptoms let you know right away that something's wrong.

Sometimes, though, you don't discover an injury when it happens. In those instances, should the statute of limitations start running on the date you're injured? If it does, your time to sue could tick away without you even knowing you might have a legal claim. That's unfair.

Pennsylvania's "discovery rule" addresses that unfairness, at least in some cases. Under the discovery rule, if you don't know you've been injured when it happens, and there's no way you could discover your injury even if you were being reasonably diligent to look for signs and symptoms, the lawsuit-filing deadline doesn't run right away. Instead, it starts on the earlier of:

• the date you discover the injury, or
• the date you should have discovered the injury, had you been reasonably careful.

A few words of caution. First, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court uses a very narrow, restrictive version of the discovery rule. It doesn't provide relief in many cases. Second, the court will probably hold a hearing to decide whether you can take advantage of the discovery rule. Third, you can count on the defendant strongly objecting to you getting more time.

For all of these reasons (and more), it's very important that you hire experienced legal counsel to represent you and make your arguments to the court. Without expert help, you stand little chance of success.

What Happens If I Miss Pennsylvania's Statute of Limitations Deadline?

Miss the lawsuit-filing deadline when there's no extension available and, as far as Pennsylvania is concerned, you have no legal claim. It simply no longer exists. If you file a lawsuit the court will dismiss it as untimely, and might sanction (penalize) you for filing a frivolous case.

You won't have any better luck trying to settle your claim without filing suit. Once the statute of limitations expires, all your negotiating strength is gone. Without the threat of a lawsuit, you don't have any way to force the defendant to pay you. You've lost the right to collect compensation (what the law calls "damages") for your injuries.