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(314) 500-HURTVehicular accidents happen every day. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reports that 11 accidents
involving at least one semi-truck occur daily. In 2012, 2.09 million vehicle passengers were injured and 21,667 were
killed in traffic accidents. This hasn’t changed the fact that not everyone knows when to call a personal injury lawyer
or car accident attorney. The important question to ask is: is there a statute of limitations for car accidents?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is that the statute of limitations is different in every state, but every state
has a limit on the amount of time you can spend between the accident and the filing of a lawsuit.
Car accident cases are considered a subset of personal injury, so the statute of limitations for personal injury will
usually apply to a car accident case. Again, this may vary from state to state, and some differentiate based on the type
of case.
In Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, a person injured in a car accident only has one year after the accident to file a
lawsuit, but in Maine, they have up to six years. A majority of state statutes fall between these extremes, and you can
find out what your state statute is online.
If you don’t contact a car accident lawyer and file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations is up, you may be out of
luck. One major exception to this is if the person injured did not discover and could not have discovered that they were
injured in the accident until after the time limit was up. Exceptions may also be made for individuals who didn’t
connect existing injuries to the accident right away.
Unfortunately, these discoveries are more common with personal injury issues like medical malpractice than car
accidents. Usually individuals involved in car accidents recognize the source of their injuries and get medical
attention, so it’s difficult even for the best car accident lawyer to successfully argue for an exception on these
terms.
Injured parties are advised to contact a car accident lawyer as soon as they can, even if they expect insurance to pay
for the damages. Waiting too long can prevent your case from getting to court at all.
Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO
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This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Founding Partner, Gary Burger who has more than 30 years of legal experience as a practicing personal injury trial attorney. Gary’s robust legal knowledge is recognized by his peers as demonstrated by his industry awards and frequent Continuing Legal Education (CLE) lectures.
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