Injury Lawsuits Have Deadlines

Every state has deadlines for filing personal injury lawsuits. The deadline - called a statute of limitations - depends on the type of case, who you're suing and where you're suing. The basic rule in Illinois is that you have two years to sue for an injury.

If you miss the deadline, you're probably out of luck. However, there are exceptions that allow more time. Keep in mind that there also are situations where you may have less time to sue.

Illinois' statute of limitations for injury cases is two years from the date of injury. Injury cases include car accidents, getting hurt on someone else's property, slip and fall cases, and medical malpractice, to name a few. So if you slip and fall in a parking lot, you have two years from that day to sue the owner or whoever is in charge of the lot.

In some situations, you may not know you were injured until much later. A common example is the medical malpractice case where a surgical instrument is left inside the patient after surgery. You aren't expected to know about this type of injury until you start experiencing symptoms or until you are diagnosed. So in these situations, the two years may not begin until you know (or should have known) about the injury. There is an outside deadline of four years in most medical malpractice cases, meaning that even if you didn't know about the malpractice you still may run out of time to sue.

You may have less than two years to file an injury lawsuit if you are suing the government. You usually have to give notice of your intent to sue within six months or a year, and you may only have a year to file a lawsuit. This exception applies to cases against towns, police departments, public schools, etc.

The two-year statute of limitations may be extended if the injured person is a minor at the time of the injury. If you are under 18, you generally have two years from your 18th birthday to file a lawsuit. For medical malpractice, minors have an outside deadline of either (1) eight years from the date of malpractice or (2) their 22nd birthday.

The statute of limitations for an injury case also may be extended based on the mental state of the person suing. For example, lawsuits based on sexual abuse can be filed long after the abuse occurred if the memories were suppressed during that time. You also may have more time if you suffer from mental illness.

Keep these deadlines in mind if you are considering suing for an injury. If you have questions, talk to an experienced personal injury attorney - there may be an exception that applies to your case.