Injury · all 51 jurisdictions

Can I sue for a car accident? state by state

Injury after a collision, and whether the insurer's offer is anywhere near the range.

This one turns on state law. The deadline, the penalty and the statute itself are different in every state, so start by picking yours.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Can I sue for a car accident? — 51 of 51 jurisdictions, each with the statute it comes from.
state	time to file	who pays first	your share of the fault	statute
AL Alabama	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Contributory — any fault bars↗	Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l)
AK Alaska	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	AS 09.10.070
AZ Arizona	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	A.R.S. § 12-542
AR Arkansas	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	Ark. Code § 16-56-105
CA California	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1
CO Colorado	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)
CT Connecticut	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584
DE Delaware	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	10 Del. C. § 8119
DC District of Columbia	3 years↗	Choice — made after the crash↗	Contributory — any fault bars↗	D.C. Code § 12-301(a)(8)
FL Florida	2 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)
GA Georgia	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33
HI Hawaii	2 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	HRS § 657-7
ID Idaho	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	Idaho Code § 5-219(4)
IL Illinois	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	735 ILCS 5/13-202
IN Indiana	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4
IA Iowa	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Iowa Code § 614.1(2)
KS Kansas	2 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	K.S.A. § 60-513(a)(4)
KY Kentucky	2 years↗	Choice — set by your policy↗	Pure comparative↗	KRS 304.39-230(6)
LA Louisiana	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1
ME Maine	6 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	14 M.R.S. § 752
MD Maryland	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Contributory — any fault bars↗	Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101
MA Massachusetts	3 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A
MI Michigan	3 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5805(2)
MN Minnesota	6 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Minn. Stat. § 541.05(1)(5)
MS Mississippi	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	Miss. Code § 15-1-49
MO Missouri	5 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120(4)
MT Montana	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Mont. Code § 27-2-204(1)
NE Nebraska	4 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207(3)
NV Nevada	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	NRS 11.190(4)(e)
NH New Hampshire	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	RSA 508:4
NJ New Jersey	2 years↗	Choice — set by your policy↗	Barred at 51%↗	N.J. Stat. § 2A:14-2
NM New Mexico	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	NMSA § 37-1-8
NY New York	3 years↗	No-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(5)
NC North Carolina	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Contributory — any fault bars↗	N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(16)
ND North Dakota	6 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16(5)
OH Ohio	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10
OK Oklahoma	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	23 O.S. § 95(A)(3)
OR Oregon	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	ORS 12.110(1)
PA Pennsylvania	2 years↗	Choice — set by your policy↗	Barred at 51%↗	42 Pa.C.S. § 5524
RI Rhode Island	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14(b)
SC South Carolina	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5)
SD South Dakota	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Slight/gross comparison↗	SDCL § 15-2-14(3)
TN Tennessee	1 year↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	Tenn. Code § 28-3-104(a)(1)
TX Texas	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a)
UT Utah	4 years↗	No-fault↗	Barred at 50%↗	Utah Code § 78B-2-307(3)
VT Vermont	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	12 V.S.A. § 512(4)
VA Virginia	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Contributory — any fault bars↗	Va. Code § 8.01-243(A)
WA Washington	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Pure comparative↗	RCW 4.16.080(2)
WV West Virginia	2 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	W. Va. Code § 55-2-12
WI Wisconsin	3 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a)
WY Wyoming	4 years↗	At-fault↗	Barred at 51%↗	Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(iv)(C)

Every value links to the primary source it was written from. A value with no “checked” date has been written from that source but not yet compared against it by a person.

Reuse: the table and the wording in it are published under CC BY-SA 4.0. Copy them, credit canisue.app, and release anything you build from them under the same licence. The statutes, court pages and agency pages cited here belong to their own publishers and are not ours to license.

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