{ "meta": { "schemaVersion": "1.0.0", "dataVersion": "2026.09.16", "jurisdictionCount": 51, "_README": "Every numeric value in this file drives a statement to an injured person about whether they still have a legal claim. A wrong number causes real harm. Read `verification` below before shipping.", "verification": { "requiresAttorneyReview": true, "reviewComplete": false, "provenanceDefault": "model-knowledge-unverified", "_note": "NOTHING in this file has been checked against a primary source. Every jurisdiction carries verified:false. `tools/verify-statutes.mjs` fails while that is true and the calculator renders a visible unverified banner. Do not set verified:true on a jurisdiction until a licensed attorney has read the cited statute and signed off with name and date." }, "evidence": { "_note": "The evidence clock is federal and uniform. It does not vary by state, so it lives here rather than per jurisdiction. These retention periods are what make a truck case different from a car case.", "milestones": [ { "id": "telematics", "day": 30, "label": "Dashcam and telematics video", "what": "Forward-facing and driver-facing camera footage, plus GPS and telematics event data.", "why": "Most fleet camera systems overwrite on a rolling cycle — commonly 30 days, sometimes as little as 7 to 14 days on high-utilisation vehicles. Nothing legally requires a carrier to keep it longer unless it has been asked to.", "citation": "No federal retention mandate — retention is set by the carrier's own vendor contract and policy.", "confidence": "industry-practice" }, { "id": "ecm", "day": 90, "label": "ECM / engine control module data", "what": "Speed, throttle position, brake application, hard-braking events and fault codes in the seconds before impact.", "why": "There is no fixed clock. The data is lost when the tractor is repaired, when the module is re-flashed, when the truck is resold, or simply when it is returned to service and the buffer rolls over. In practice this is the fastest-disappearing evidence in the case.", "citation": "No federal retention mandate.", "confidence": "industry-practice" }, { "id": "rods", "day": 180, "label": "Driver logs (Records of Duty Status)", "what": "The driver's hours-of-service record and the supporting documents behind it — the proof of whether the driver was legally allowed to be driving at all.", "why": "Federal law requires a motor carrier to keep RODS and supporting documents for six months from receipt. After six months, destroying them is lawful.", "citation": "49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1); supporting documents 49 C.F.R. § 395.11(f)", "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-395", "confidence": "federal-regulation-cited-not-verified" }, { "id": "qualification", "day": 1095, "label": "Driver qualification file", "what": "Licensing, medical certification, prior employment checks, road test and the carrier's own hiring record.", "why": "Retained for the length of employment plus three years. This is where negligent-hiring and negligent-retention claims live.", "citation": "49 C.F.R. § 391.51", "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-391", "confidence": "federal-regulation-cited-not-verified" } ], "remedy": { "label": "Spoliation letter / litigation hold", "what": "A written demand to the carrier and its insurer that identifies each category of evidence and requires it to be preserved.", "why": "Retention clocks stop mattering once a carrier is on notice that the evidence is relevant to a claim. Until that letter is served, lawful destruction keeps running." } }, "federal": { "_note": "A crash involving a federal vehicle — USPS, VA, GSA, a federal contractor driving a federal vehicle — is not governed by the state deadlines below. It runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is uniform nationwide and is an ADMINISTRATIVE claim first. You cannot file suit until the agency has denied it.", "administrativeClaimYears": 2, "runsFrom": "date of the crash", "suitAfterDenialMonths": 6, "form": "Standard Form 95", "citation": "28 U.S.C. § 2401(b); 28 C.F.R. § 14.2", "url": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/2401", "confidence": "federal-statute-cited-not-verified" }, "disclaimer": "General information, not legal advice. Deadlines are estimates based on the most common rule in each jurisdiction and do not account for every exception, tolling doctrine, contractual limitation or federal preemption that may apply to a particular case. No attorney-client relationship is created by using this tool.", "minorRules": { "untilMajority": "The limitation period generally does not begin to run until the injured person turns 18. The full period then runs from the 18th birthday.", "untilMajorityCapped": "The limitation period is generally tolled during minority, but a separate outside cap limits how long the tolling can extend the deadline.", "shortWindowAfterMajority": "Tolling applies during minority, but the injured person generally gets a fixed, shorter window after turning 18 rather than the full limitation period.", "limited": "Tolling for minors is narrower than the general rule in this jurisdiction and may not apply to every claim type.", "none": "This jurisdiction does not generally toll the limitation period for minority in the ordinary case." } }, "jurisdictions": [ { "code": "AL", "name": "Alabama", "slug": "alabama", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l)", "primarySource": "Code of Alabama 1975", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Ala. Code § 6-5-410", "primarySource": "Code of Alabama 1975", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Alabama treats the two-year wrongful death period as a condition on the right to sue rather than an ordinary limitation period, which is generally understood to mean it is not extended by the usual tolling doctrines." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Ala. Code § 41-9-60 et seq. (Board of Adjustment)", "note": "Alabama's constitution bars most direct suits against the State; claims generally go to the Board of Adjustment instead of court." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "Ala. Code § 11-47-23 (municipalities); § 11-12-8 (counties)", "note": "Sworn claim against a municipality generally within six months; county claims generally within twelve." }, "note": "A city refuse truck and a county road-department truck are on different clocks in Alabama, and neither matches the State's." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Ala. Code § 6-2-8(a)", "note": "General tolling for minority. Note the separate treatment of the wrongful death period above." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": false, "note": "Alabama applies a discovery rule narrowly and generally not to ordinary negligence claims, so the clock usually starts at the crash even if the injury is diagnosed later." }, "page": { "quirk": "Alabama is one of a small group of states that still applies pure contributory negligence. If the trucking company can persuade a jury you were even one percent at fault, the recovery is generally zero — not reduced, zero.", "why": "That rule changes what the evidence deadline is worth here more than almost anywhere else. When any fault at all can end the case, the driver's logs and the ECM download stop being corroboration and become the whole defence against a blame-shifting argument.", "corridors": "I-20, I-65 and I-10 carry heavy through-freight across the state, and the Birmingham interchange where I-20, I-59 and I-65 converge is a persistent heavy-truck collision area.", "watchOut": "The six-month municipal claim window is the trap. A collision with a city vehicle can be time-barred before most people have finished treatment." } }, { "code": "AK", "name": "Alaska", "slug": "alaska", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Alaska Stat. § 09.10.070", "primarySource": "Alaska Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/alaska/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Alaska Stat. § 09.55.580", "primarySource": "Alaska Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/alaska/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "Alaska Stat. § 09.50.250", "note": "Claims against the State are generally brought within the ordinary limitation period rather than behind a short notice window." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "Alaska Stat. § 09.65.070 (municipal immunity provisions)", "note": "Municipal charters and ordinances can impose their own notice requirements; check the specific borough or municipality." }, "note": "Alaska does not impose the very short across-the-board notice period that most states do, but a local charter still can." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Alaska Stat. § 09.10.140", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Alaska recognises a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable at the time." }, "page": { "quirk": "Alaska's freight geography has almost no redundancy. A very large share of the state's goods move over a small number of routes, which means the same carriers and the same tractors appear again and again.", "why": "That concentration cuts both ways. A carrier's safety history is easier to trace, but a tractor on a continuous haul cycle is also back in service — and overwriting its own data — faster than one sitting in a southern yard.", "corridors": "The Parks and Glenn Highways, the Seward Highway south of Anchorage, and the Dalton Highway haul road serving the North Slope, which carries heavy industrial freight on gravel for hundreds of miles.", "watchOut": "Winter recovery and repair cycles. A tractor pulled out of a ditch in December can be repaired, re-flashed and back on the road long before anyone requests the module data." } }, { "code": "AZ", "name": "Arizona", "slug": "arizona", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "A.R.S. § 12-542", "primarySource": "Arizona Revised Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "A.R.S. § 12-542", "primarySource": "Arizona Revised Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "A.R.S. § 12-821.01", "note": "Notice of claim generally within 180 days of accrual, and suit generally within one year — not two — under § 12-821." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "A.R.S. § 12-821.01", "note": "The same 180-day notice statute covers cities, counties, school districts and other public entities." }, "note": "Arizona also shortens the limitation period itself against a public entity to one year, so a government truck claim has both a shorter notice window and a shorter filing deadline." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "A.R.S. § 12-502", "note": "Generally tolled during minority. The public-entity notice statute is treated differently and is worth specific advice." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Arizona applies a discovery rule — the period generally runs from when the claimant knew or reasonably should have known of the injury and its cause." }, "page": { "quirk": "Arizona is the clearest example in the country of why the calculator shows two different government numbers. The notice is 180 days, but the deadline to actually file suit against a public entity drops to one year instead of two.", "why": "People who correctly serve the notice of claim sometimes still lose the case, because they assumed the ordinary two-year clock applied to the lawsuit afterwards. It generally does not.", "corridors": "I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson and onward to the California line, I-40 across the north, and I-19 running to the Nogales port of entry — one of the busiest commercial crossings on the southern border.", "watchOut": "Cross-border carriers. A tractor that returns to Mexico between hauls is materially harder to inspect, and the window to demand preservation is correspondingly shorter." } }, { "code": "AR", "name": "Arkansas", "slug": "arkansas", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Ark. Code § 16-56-105", "primarySource": "Arkansas Code", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Ark. Code § 16-62-102(c)", "primarySource": "Arkansas Code", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Ark. Code § 19-10-204 (Arkansas State Claims Commission)", "note": "Claims against the State generally go to the Claims Commission rather than to court." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "Ark. Code § 21-9-301 (municipal immunity)", "note": "Municipalities and counties hold broad statutory immunity for negligence, generally limited to the extent of liability insurance carried." }, "note": "Arkansas's local-government immunity is unusually broad. Whether there is a claim at all can turn on what insurance the entity actually purchased." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Ark. Code § 16-56-116", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in limited circumstances; the ordinary crash claim generally accrues on the date of the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "A three-year filing deadline puts Arkansas among the more generous states — and that is exactly what makes the evidence gap here so wide. Three years of legal runway, six months of driver logs.", "why": "The gap between the two clocks is close to two and a half years in Arkansas. Someone who waits a year before calling anyone has lost essentially every federally retained record while still being well inside the filing deadline.", "corridors": "I-40 across the state is one of the heaviest east-west freight routes in the country, and the I-30 corridor between Little Rock and Texarkana carries dense regional truck traffic.", "watchOut": "Local-government immunity. With a city or county truck the first question is not the deadline, it is whether the entity carried insurance — because in Arkansas that can decide whether a claim exists." } }, { "code": "CA", "name": "California", "slug": "california", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1", "primarySource": "California Code of Civil Procedure", "url": "https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1", "primarySource": "California Code of Civil Procedure", "url": "https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2", "note": "Claim for death or personal injury generally within six months of accrual, presented to the public entity before suit." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2", "note": "The same six-month rule covers cities, counties, transit districts and school districts." }, "note": "California allows an application for leave to present a late claim in some circumstances, generally within a year — but that is relief to be applied for, not a deadline to rely on." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352", "note": "Generally tolled during minority. The Government Claims Act notice requirement is treated separately and is not simply tolled to the 18th birthday." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "California applies a discovery rule where the injury or its negligent cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "California runs the largest port-drayage operation in the country, and drayage is where the question of who actually employed the driver gets hardest.", "why": "A container moving out of Los Angeles or Long Beach may involve an owner-operator, a motor carrier, a logistics broker and a shipper — four entities with four insurance policies. Working out which of them is responsible takes records, and the records are on six-month clocks.", "corridors": "I-5 the length of the state, I-710 out of the San Pedro Bay ports, the Grapevine climb on I-5 north of Los Angeles, and I-80 and I-580 serving the Port of Oakland.", "watchOut": "The six-month government claim. California transit agencies, school districts and municipal utilities all run heavy vehicles, and all of them sit behind that window." } }, { "code": "CO", "name": "Colorado", "slug": "colorado", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)", "primarySource": "Colorado Revised Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Colorado sets a three-year period specifically for claims arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle. The general personal injury period at § 13-80-102 is two years — the motor vehicle provision is the one that ordinarily governs a truck crash." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "C.R.S. § 13-80-102(1)(d)", "primarySource": "Colorado Revised Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Wrongful death is commonly treated as two years, which is shorter than the three-year motor vehicle injury period — so in a fatal truck crash the death claim can expire a full year before the injury claim would have." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 182, "state": { "days": 182, "citation": "C.R.S. § 24-10-109", "note": "Written notice generally within 182 days of discovery of the injury. Colorado treats this as jurisdictional." }, "local": { "days": 182, "citation": "C.R.S. § 24-10-109", "note": "Same 182-day rule for cities, counties, RTD and school districts." }, "note": "Colorado courts have described the 182-day notice as a jurisdictional prerequisite, which generally means missing it cannot be cured." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "C.R.S. § 13-81-103", "note": "Generally tolled for a person under disability, including minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "The period generally runs from when the injury and its cause were known or should have been known." }, "page": { "quirk": "Colorado is the state where the two-clock problem has a third clock. The injury deadline is three years, the wrongful death deadline is two, and the government notice is 182 days — three different answers on the same crash.", "why": "A family that loses someone in a truck crash and assumes the three-year motor vehicle period applies to their death claim can be a year late without ever knowing there were two numbers.", "corridors": "I-70 through the mountain corridor, including the steep westbound descent from the Eisenhower Tunnel and the Floyd Hill grades, and I-25 the length of the Front Range.", "watchOut": "Runaway-truck and brake-failure cases on the I-70 grades turn almost entirely on maintenance records and ECM data — the two categories with the least protection from time." } }, { "code": "CT", "name": "Connecticut", "slug": "connecticut", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584", "primarySource": "Connecticut General Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from when the injury was first sustained or discovered, with an outside limit commonly stated as three years from the negligent act." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-555", "primarySource": "Connecticut General Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death, subject to an outside limit commonly stated as five years from the act complained of." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 90, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-147 (Claims Commissioner)", "note": "Claims against the State generally presented to the Claims Commissioner within one year." }, "local": { "days": 90, "citation": "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 13a-149 (municipal highway defect); § 7-465", "note": "The highway defect notice against a municipality is commonly ninety days and is strictly applied." }, "note": "Connecticut runs two quite different government tracks — the Claims Commissioner for the State, and short statutory notice for towns." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "limited", "capYears": null, "citation": "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584 and related provisions", "note": "Connecticut's tolling for minors is narrower than the general rule in many states and should not be assumed. Get specific advice." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Two years from discovery of the injury, subject to the three-year outside repose limit." }, "page": { "quirk": "Connecticut pairs a two-year filing deadline with a three-year outside limit measured from the negligent act, not from the injury. The second number can cut off a claim the first one would have allowed.", "why": "It matters in truck cases where the negligence is not the crash itself — a defective brake job, a falsified log, a driver who should never have been hired. Those acts happen before the collision, and the outside clock starts there.", "corridors": "I-95 along the shoreline, which carries dense Northeast Corridor freight through constrained older interchanges, and I-84 across the centre of the state.", "watchOut": "The ninety-day municipal notice. Connecticut towns run plough fleets and public works trucks, and ninety days is gone quickly." } }, { "code": "DE", "name": "Delaware", "slug": "delaware", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "10 Del. C. § 8119", "primarySource": "Delaware Code", "url": "https://delcode.delaware.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "10 Del. C. § 8107", "primarySource": "Delaware Code", "url": "https://delcode.delaware.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "10 Del. C. § 4001 et seq. (State Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Delaware's State Tort Claims Act sets out the circumstances in which immunity is waived." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "10 Del. C. § 8124 (notice to municipalities)", "note": "Notice to a municipality is commonly required within one year of the injury." }, "note": "Delaware does not run the very short notice windows common elsewhere, but county and municipal charters can add their own requirements." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "10 Del. C. § 8116", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied where the injury was inherently unknowable at the time." }, "page": { "quirk": "Delaware is small enough that a very large share of the truck traffic on its roads is through-freight — carriers domiciled somewhere else, insured somewhere else, with records held somewhere else.", "why": "When the carrier is out of state, a preservation demand has to find the right corporate entity and the right registered agent before it does anything. That research takes days the evidence clock does not give back.", "corridors": "I-95 through Wilmington, the Delaware Memorial Bridge approaches, and US-13 and US-301 carrying regional freight down the peninsula.", "watchOut": "Multi-state carriers. Identifying the actual motor carrier — not the name painted on the trailer — is the first step, and it is slower than people expect." } }, { "code": "DC", "name": "Washington, D.C.", "slug": "washington-dc", "displayShort": "D.C.", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "D.C. Code § 12-301(8)", "primarySource": "Code of the District of Columbia", "url": "https://code.dccouncil.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "D.C. Code § 16-2702", "primarySource": "Code of the District of Columbia", "url": "https://code.dccouncil.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "The District's wrongful death period is commonly two years from death, shorter than the three-year injury period." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "D.C. Code § 12-309", "note": "Written notice to the Mayor generally within six months of the injury. D.C. courts apply this strictly." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "D.C. Code § 12-309", "note": "The District is both the state-level and local-level entity; § 12-309 covers it." }, "note": "WMATA is a separate interstate compact authority with its own claim requirements, distinct from § 12-309." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "D.C. Code § 12-302", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the § 12-309 notice requirement is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "The District applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably knowable." }, "page": { "quirk": "In the District you are more likely than anywhere else in the country to be hit by a vehicle that is federal rather than local — and the two run on completely different systems.", "why": "A District government truck is governed by the six-month notice under § 12-309. A USPS or federal agency vehicle is governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is an administrative claim on Standard Form 95 with a two-year window. Guessing wrong loses the claim.", "corridors": "New York Avenue NE, South Capitol Street, the I-295 and I-395 approaches, and the constant construction and delivery traffic through the central business district.", "watchOut": "WMATA. Transit authority claims are neither District claims nor federal claims, and the compact sets its own requirements." } }, { "code": "FL", "name": "Florida", "slug": "florida", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(a)", "primarySource": "Florida Statutes", "url": "https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "IMPORTANT: Florida shortened this from four years to two for causes of action accruing on or after 24 March 2023 (HB 837). A crash before that date may still be on the old four-year period. The date of the crash decides which rule applies, and this is one of the most consequential unverified values in this file." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e)", "primarySource": "Florida Statutes", "url": "https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 1095, "state": { "days": 1095, "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)", "note": "Written notice generally to the agency and to the Department of Financial Services within three years, followed by a 180-day agency investigation period before suit." }, "local": { "days": 1095, "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)", "note": "Same statute covers counties, municipalities and school boards." }, "note": "Florida's notice period is long, but the mandatory waiting period afterwards is the practical trap — you generally cannot file until the agency has had its 180 days, and that time has to fit inside the limitation period." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajorityCapped", "capYears": 7, "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 95.051", "note": "Tolling for minority exists but Florida caps how far it can extend the deadline. Do not assume a full period from the 18th birthday." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in limited categories; an ordinary crash claim generally accrues on the date of the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "Florida cut its personal injury filing deadline in half in March 2023. Anyone relying on a four-year number they read online before then is working from a figure that no longer applies to a new crash.", "why": "This is the single most common source of wrong deadline information in the country right now. Older articles, older advice and older memory all say four years. For a crash today the answer is generally two.", "corridors": "I-4 between Tampa and Daytona, I-95 along the east coast, I-75 through Alligator Alley, and the heavy port drayage around Jacksonville, Miami and Port Everglades.", "watchOut": "The 180-day government waiting period. The notice window is generous but you have to leave room for the agency's investigation period before the limitation period runs out." } }, { "code": "GA", "name": "Georgia", "slug": "georgia", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33", "primarySource": "Official Code of Georgia Annotated", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33", "primarySource": "Official Code of Georgia Annotated", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Georgia may toll the wrongful death period while the estate is unrepresented, commonly up to five years, but that relief depends on the facts and is not automatic." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26 (Georgia Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Ante litem notice to the State generally within twelve months of the loss, with specific content requirements." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5 (municipalities); § 36-11-1 (counties)", "note": "Ante litem notice to a municipality is commonly six months; county claims are commonly twelve months." }, "note": "Georgia's ante litem notices have content requirements, not just deadlines — a notice that arrives on time but omits required information can still fail." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; ante litem notice requirements are treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in limited circumstances; an ordinary crash claim generally accrues at the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "Georgia requires the notice against a government entity to say specific things, not merely to arrive on time. A timely notice missing required content can be as fatal as no notice at all.", "why": "This is the rare deadline problem that a person cannot solve by being fast. Being early does not help if the document does not contain what the statute requires it to contain.", "corridors": "I-75 and I-85 converging through the Atlanta Downtown Connector, I-285 around the perimeter, and I-16 running freight to the Port of Savannah — one of the fastest-growing container ports in the country.", "watchOut": "Savannah drayage. Rapid port growth has put far more container traffic on regional roads, much of it moved by small carriers with thin insurance and short record retention." } }, { "code": "HI", "name": "Hawaii", "slug": "hawaii", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "HRS § 657-7", "primarySource": "Hawaii Revised Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "HRS § 663-3", "primarySource": "Hawaii Revised Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "HRS § 662-4 (State Tort Liability Act)", "note": "Claims against the State generally within two years of accrual." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "HRS § 46-72", "note": "Notice to a county is commonly required and the period has been the subject of amendment — confirm the current figure." }, "note": "Hawaii's county notice provision has changed over time. This is a value to check against the current statute rather than an older secondary source." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "HRS § 657-13", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Hawaii applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Hawaii's no-fault motor vehicle system means a truck crash claim starts inside personal injury protection benefits, and the right to step outside that system and sue depends on meeting a statutory threshold.", "why": "That extra step costs time. People spend months inside the PIP process believing that is the claim, while the evidence held by the carrier is running down on its own schedule.", "corridors": "The H-1 through Honolulu, the Nimitz Highway serving Honolulu Harbor, and the heavy inter-island freight and agricultural haulage on Maui and Hawai'i Island.", "watchOut": "Island logistics. A tractor can be barged between islands or taken out of service in a way that makes a physical inspection genuinely difficult if the demand is not made early." } }, { "code": "ID", "name": "Idaho", "slug": "idaho", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Idaho Code § 5-219", "primarySource": "Idaho Statutes", "url": "https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Idaho Code § 5-311", "primarySource": "Idaho Statutes", "url": "https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "Idaho Code § 6-905", "note": "Claim against the State generally filed within 180 days of when the claim arose or reasonably should have been discovered." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "Idaho Code § 6-906", "note": "Claims against political subdivisions generally within 180 days." }, "note": "Idaho's 180-day window runs from discovery, which can help — but it is not a reason to wait." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Idaho Code § 5-230", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Idaho applies a discovery rule in defined circumstances; ordinary crash claims generally accrue at the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "Idaho permits some of the longest and heaviest vehicle combinations in the country on designated routes, including longer doubles and triples.", "why": "Longer combinations change the physics of the crash and the engineering questions that follow — load securement, trailer tracking, and whether the combination was permitted on that road at all. Those questions need permits and dispatch records, which nobody keeps forever.", "corridors": "I-84 across the south, I-15 north from Utah, and US-95 running the length of the state as the main north-south freight route.", "watchOut": "Permit records. Whether a given combination was legal on a given road is a documentary question, and the documents live with the carrier and the state." } }, { "code": "IL", "name": "Illinois", "slug": "illinois", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "735 ILCS 5/13-202", "primarySource": "Illinois Compiled Statutes", "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs.asp", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "740 ILCS 180/2", "primarySource": "Illinois Compiled Statutes", "url": "https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs.asp", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "705 ILCS 505/22 (Court of Claims Act)", "note": "Claims against the State generally go to the Illinois Court of Claims, commonly within two years." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "745 ILCS 10/8-101 (Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act)", "note": "Suit against a local public entity generally within one year — half the ordinary period." }, "note": "Illinois does not require a short pre-suit notice for local entities, but it cuts the limitation period itself to one year. The effect is the same: you have less time than you think." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "735 ILCS 5/13-211", "note": "Generally tolled during minority. The Tort Immunity Act's shortened period for public entities is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Illinois applies a discovery rule where the injury and its wrongful cause were not immediately apparent." }, "page": { "quirk": "Illinois is the largest inland freight hub in North America. Chicago is where a very large share of the country's intermodal containers change from rail to road, which means an unusually high share of local truck traffic is drayage.", "why": "Drayage cases are layered. The container, the chassis, the tractor and the driver can each belong to a different company, and each has its own insurer and its own records. Untangling that takes documents on six-month clocks.", "corridors": "I-80, I-55, I-57 and I-94 through the Chicago metropolitan area, the intermodal yards at Joliet and Elwood, and I-74 and I-70 across the centre of the state.", "watchOut": "The one-year clock against local public entities. Illinois halves it rather than adding a notice requirement, which makes it easy to miss." } }, { "code": "IN", "name": "Indiana", "slug": "indiana", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4", "primarySource": "Indiana Code", "url": "https://iga.in.gov/laws/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Ind. Code § 34-23-1-1", "primarySource": "Indiana Code", "url": "https://iga.in.gov/laws/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 270, "citation": "Ind. Code § 34-13-3-6", "note": "Notice to the State generally within 270 days of the loss." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "Ind. Code § 34-13-3-8", "note": "Notice to a political subdivision generally within 180 days of the loss." }, "note": "Indiana is one of the clearest examples of a state where the State and local notice periods are genuinely different numbers — 270 days versus 180." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Ind. Code § 34-11-6-1", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Tort Claims Act notice requirements are treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Indiana applies a discovery rule where the injury and its cause were not reasonably ascertainable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Indiana calls itself the Crossroads of America and the freight data supports it — an exceptionally high share of the nation's truck-borne freight passes through the state without stopping.", "why": "Through-freight means out-of-state carriers. The company that hit you may have no Indiana presence at all beyond the tractor that was on I-70 that afternoon, which makes identifying and serving the right entity slower.", "corridors": "I-70, I-65, I-69, I-64, I-74 and I-80/90 — six interstates crossing the state, with the Indianapolis interchanges and the Gary and Hammond approaches carrying particularly heavy volume.", "watchOut": "Two different government numbers. A state highway department truck is 270 days; a county or city truck is 180." } }, { "code": "IA", "name": "Iowa", "slug": "iowa", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Iowa Code § 614.1(2)", "primarySource": "Iowa Code", "url": "https://www.legis.iowa.gov/law/iowaCode", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Iowa Code § 614.1(2)", "primarySource": "Iowa Code", "url": "https://www.legis.iowa.gov/law/iowaCode", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "Iowa Code § 669.13 (State Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Claim against the State generally within two years." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "Iowa Code § 670.5 (municipal tort liability)", "note": "Claims against municipalities generally within two years." }, "note": "Iowa does not impose the very short notice windows common in other states, which makes the evidence clock the binding constraint in nearly every Iowa truck case." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Iowa Code § 614.8", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Iowa applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Iowa carries an unusually high proportion of agricultural and bulk commodity hauling, much of it seasonal, much of it by small carriers running a handful of tractors.", "why": "Small carriers are where record retention is weakest. A three-truck operation is less likely to have a telematics vendor keeping anything, and more likely to let the six-month federal minimum be the whole retention policy.", "corridors": "I-80 across the state, I-35 north-south, and dense seasonal grain and livestock haulage on state and county routes during harvest.", "watchOut": "Harvest season. Hours-of-service exemptions for agricultural haulage in defined circumstances change what the driver's log is supposed to show — which makes getting the actual log more important, not less." } }, { "code": "KS", "name": "Kansas", "slug": "kansas", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "K.S.A. § 60-513(a)(4)", "primarySource": "Kansas Statutes", "url": "https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "K.S.A. § 60-513(a)(5)", "primarySource": "Kansas Statutes", "url": "https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 120, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "K.S.A. § 75-6103 (Kansas Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Claims against the State generally follow the ordinary limitation period." }, "local": { "days": 120, "citation": "K.S.A. § 12-105b(d)", "note": "Written notice to a municipality generally required before suit, commonly within 120 days, with statutory content requirements." }, "note": "The municipal notice under § 12-105b also has content requirements and a mandatory waiting period after filing before suit may be brought." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajorityCapped", "capYears": 8, "citation": "K.S.A. § 60-515", "note": "Kansas tolls for minority but imposes an outside cap. Do not assume a full period running from the 18th birthday." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "The period generally runs from when the fact of injury becomes reasonably ascertainable, subject to a statutory outside limit." }, "page": { "quirk": "Kansas caps how far minority tolling can push a deadline. A child injured young does not necessarily get the full period from their eighteenth birthday the way they would in most states.", "why": "Families often assume a child's claim can simply wait. In Kansas that assumption has a ceiling, and by the time it matters the evidence has been gone for years.", "corridors": "I-70 across the state, I-35 on the Wichita–Kansas City axis, and the Kansas Turnpike carrying long-haul freight at sustained high speed.", "watchOut": "The 120-day municipal notice, which also has to say specific things and be followed by a waiting period before suit." } }, { "code": "KY", "name": "Kentucky", "slug": "kentucky", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "KRS § 304.39-230(6) (Motor Vehicle Reparations Act)", "primarySource": "Kentucky Revised Statutes", "url": "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "CRITICAL: Kentucky's general personal injury period at KRS 413.140(1)(a) is ONE year. Motor vehicle claims are governed instead by the Motor Vehicle Reparations Act, commonly two years from the crash or from the last basic reparation benefit payment, whichever is later. Which provision governs a given truck claim is exactly the kind of question this tool cannot answer and an attorney must." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "appointment", "citation": "KRS § 413.180; KRS § 304.39-230", "primarySource": "Kentucky Revised Statutes", "url": "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Kentucky commonly measures the wrongful death period from the appointment of the personal representative rather than from the death, with an outside limit from the date of death. This is a different starting point from most states." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "KRS § 49.100 (Kentucky Claims Commission)", "note": "Claims against the Commonwealth generally go to the Claims Commission, commonly within one year." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "KRS § 65.200 et seq.", "note": "Local government liability is governed separately; specific notice requirements can vary." }, "note": "Kentucky routes State claims through the Claims Commission rather than the ordinary courts." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "KRS § 413.170", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Kentucky has two personal injury deadlines and the difference between them is a full year. The general rule is one year. Motor vehicle claims are commonly governed by the Motor Vehicle Reparations Act instead, at two.", "why": "This is the most dangerous ambiguity in the dataset. A one-year answer that should have been two costs nothing; a two-year answer that should have been one ends the case. Nobody should be relying on a calculator for this — in Kentucky the only safe move is to ask a lawyer early.", "corridors": "I-65 through Louisville and the UPS Worldport air-freight hub, I-75 through Lexington and northern Kentucky, I-64 east-west, and I-71 to Cincinnati.", "watchOut": "Louisville's overnight air-freight cycle puts a very large volume of time-pressured ground haulage on the roads in the small hours — the period when hours-of-service violations are most likely and driver logs matter most." } }, { "code": "LA", "name": "Louisiana", "slug": "louisiana", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 (Act 423 of 2024); formerly art. 3492", "primarySource": "Louisiana Civil Code", "url": "https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Laws_Toc.aspx", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "CRITICAL AND RECENT: Louisiana's prescriptive period for delictual actions was historically ONE year. It was extended to TWO years for delictual actions arising on or after 1 July 2024. A crash before that date is likely still on the one-year rule. The date of the crash decides. Verify this one first." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2", "primarySource": "Louisiana Civil Code", "url": "https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Laws_Toc.aspx", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Subject to the same one-year to two-year transition described above." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "La. R.S. § 13:5106 et seq.", "note": "Louisiana does not generally impose the short pre-suit notice common elsewhere; the prescriptive period does the work." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "La. R.S. § 13:5107 (service requirements)", "note": "Service requirements against political subdivisions are specific and strictly applied." }, "note": "Louisiana's civil law system uses prescription rather than a statute of limitations. The practical effect is similar but the doctrines around interruption and suspension are different." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "La. Civ. Code art. 3468 (suspension)", "note": "Prescription is generally suspended during minority under the doctrine of contra non valentem and related provisions." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Louisiana applies contra non valentem, which can suspend prescription where the claimant could not have known of the claim." }, "page": { "quirk": "Louisiana doubled its filing deadline in 2024 — and the old number is still correct for older crashes. The date of your collision decides which rule you are under.", "why": "Louisiana was for decades the state with the shortest deadline in the country at one year. An enormous amount of published material still says one year, because for crashes before 1 July 2024 it generally still is.", "corridors": "I-10 across the south including the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, I-12, I-20 through Shreveport and Monroe, and dense petrochemical and port haulage along the Mississippi River industrial corridor.", "watchOut": "Hazardous and petrochemical cargo. Those hauls generate additional federal paperwork — shipping papers, placarding, driver training records — that is worth demanding early precisely because it exists." } }, { "code": "ME", "name": "Maine", "slug": "maine", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 6, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "14 M.R.S. § 752", "primarySource": "Maine Revised Statutes", "url": "https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "18-C M.R.S. § 2-807", "primarySource": "Maine Revised Statutes", "url": "https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Maine's wrongful death period is commonly three years — half the six-year injury period. In a fatal crash the death claim expires first by a wide margin." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "14 M.R.S. § 8107 (Maine Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Notice generally within 180 days of the cause of action accruing." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "14 M.R.S. § 8107", "note": "The same 180-day notice covers political subdivisions." }, "note": "Maine pairs one of the longest injury deadlines in the country with an ordinary 180-day government notice." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "14 M.R.S. § 853", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in limited categories; ordinary negligence claims generally accrue at the time of the injury." }, "page": { "quirk": "Maine has the longest ordinary personal injury deadline in the country at six years — and the widest gap in the country between the legal clock and the evidence clock.", "why": "Six years versus six months. A person in Maine can be five and a half years inside their filing deadline and still have lost every federally retained record, every camera file and every ECM download. Nowhere else is the contrast this stark.", "corridors": "I-95 the length of the state, I-295 through Portland, and heavy seasonal logging and forest-products haulage on secondary roads in the north and west.", "watchOut": "The wrongful death period is three years, not six. Families who look up Maine's deadline and find the six-year figure are reading the wrong one." } }, { "code": "MD", "name": "Maryland", "slug": "maryland", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101", "primarySource": "Maryland Code", "url": "https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-904(g)", "primarySource": "Maryland Code", "url": "https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Md. Code, State Gov't § 12-106 (Maryland Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Notice to the State Treasurer generally within one year of the injury." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-304 (Local Government Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Notice to the local government generally within one year." }, "note": "Maryland's notice periods were lengthened from shorter figures in earlier versions of these statutes — do not rely on older secondary sources." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-201", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Maryland applies a discovery rule — the period generally runs from when the claimant knew or should have known of the wrong." }, "page": { "quirk": "Maryland is one of the last jurisdictions applying pure contributory negligence. Any contributory fault on the injured person's part generally defeats the claim entirely.", "why": "In a contributory negligence state the defence does not need to prove the trucking company was blameless. It only needs to find something you did wrong. That makes the objective record — the log, the ECM, the camera — the difference between a case and no case.", "corridors": "I-95 and the Baltimore Harbor crossings, I-695 around Baltimore, I-70 west, and heavy container drayage serving the Port of Baltimore.", "watchOut": "The Port of Baltimore drayage network involves layered contracting, and the company on the trailer is frequently not the company that employed the driver." } }, { "code": "MA", "name": "Massachusetts", "slug": "massachusetts", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A", "primarySource": "Massachusetts General Laws", "url": "https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "M.G.L. c. 229, § 2", "primarySource": "Massachusetts General Laws", "url": "https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "M.G.L. c. 258, § 4", "note": "Presentment to the executive officer of the public employer generally within two years of the cause of action arising, with suit within three." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "M.G.L. c. 258, § 4", "note": "The same presentment rule covers cities, towns and other public employers." }, "note": "Massachusetts presentment is a precondition to suit. Two years is long by comparison, but presentment to the wrong officer is a recurring failure point." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "M.G.L. c. 260, § 7", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Massachusetts applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably knowable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Massachusetts requires presentment to a specific executive officer of the public employer, not merely to the department that owns the truck.", "why": "It is a procedural trap rather than a timing one. Notices sent to the right agency but the wrong officer have failed, which is why the two-year window is less generous than it sounds.", "corridors": "I-90 the Massachusetts Turnpike, I-93 and the Boston tunnel network, I-495 as the regional freight ring, and heavy port drayage from Conley Terminal in South Boston.", "watchOut": "Urban delivery and refuse vehicles. A large share of Massachusetts truck injuries involve municipal or contracted municipal vehicles operating in dense city traffic." } }, { "code": "MI", "name": "Michigan", "slug": "michigan", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "MCL § 600.5805(2)", "primarySource": "Michigan Compiled Laws", "url": "https://www.legislature.mi.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Michigan's no-fault system separately limits the time to claim personal injury protection benefits — commonly one year — which is a different and much shorter clock from the three-year period to sue in tort." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "MCL § 600.5805; § 600.2922", "primarySource": "Michigan Compiled Laws", "url": "https://www.legislature.mi.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 120, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "MCL § 600.6431 (Court of Claims)", "note": "Notice of intention to file against the State generally within a short window — commonly six months for personal injury claims." }, "local": { "days": 120, "citation": "MCL § 691.1404 (highway defect); § 691.1406", "note": "Notice for a highway defect claim against a governmental agency is commonly 120 days." }, "note": "Michigan has several overlapping short notice provisions depending on which governmental entity and which theory. This is a state where the notice analysis genuinely needs a lawyer." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "shortWindowAfterMajority", "capYears": 1, "citation": "MCL § 600.5851", "note": "Michigan commonly gives a person under disability a one-year window after the disability is removed, rather than the full period from the 18th birthday. This is materially less generous than the majority rule." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances; ordinary crash claims generally accrue at the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "Michigan's minority tolling is far less generous than most people assume. Rather than restarting the full period at eighteen, the state commonly gives one year after the disability is removed.", "why": "A family that assumes a child's claim can wait until adulthood and then take the usual three years may find they had twelve months. It is one of the most consequential differences in the dataset.", "corridors": "I-94 and I-75 through Detroit, the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit–Windsor Tunnel crossings into Canada, and I-96 and I-69 carrying automotive supply-chain freight.", "watchOut": "Cross-border carriers. A Canadian-domiciled carrier adds a jurisdictional layer and makes early preservation demands more important, not less." } }, { "code": "MN", "name": "Minnesota", "slug": "minnesota", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 6, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Minn. Stat. § 541.05 subd. 1(5)", "primarySource": "Minnesota Statutes", "url": "https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Six years applies to ordinary negligence. Intentional torts run on a much shorter period, and Minnesota's no-fault system has its own separate benefit deadlines." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Minn. Stat. § 573.02", "primarySource": "Minnesota Statutes", "url": "https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Commonly three years from death with an outside limit of six years from the act. Half the injury period." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Minn. Stat. § 3.736 subd. 5", "note": "Notice to the State generally within a defined period — commonly one year for personal injury." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "Minn. Stat. § 466.05", "note": "Notice to a municipality generally within 180 days of the alleged loss." }, "note": "Minnesota is another state where the State and municipal notice periods differ." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Minn. Stat. § 541.15", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances; ordinary negligence generally accrues when the damage occurs." }, "page": { "quirk": "Minnesota's six-year injury deadline is among the longest in the country, and its three-year wrongful death period is half of it.", "why": "The two numbers diverge exactly when it matters most. In a fatal crash the family is working to a three-year clock while every article about Minnesota's deadline is describing the six-year one.", "corridors": "I-94 and I-35 through the Twin Cities, I-90 across the south, and heavy seasonal agricultural and aggregate haulage on regional routes.", "watchOut": "Winter. Minnesota crashes frequently involve road conditions, which means the maintenance and dispatch decision — whether the load should have moved at all — becomes central, and that lives in dispatch records." } }, { "code": "MS", "name": "Mississippi", "slug": "mississippi", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Miss. Code § 15-1-49", "primarySource": "Mississippi Code", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Miss. Code § 15-1-49; § 11-7-13", "primarySource": "Mississippi Code", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 90, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Miss. Code § 11-46-11 (Mississippi Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Notice of claim generally required, with a one-year limitation period against a governmental entity — half the ordinary three years." }, "local": { "days": 90, "citation": "Miss. Code § 11-46-11", "note": "Ninety days' written notice of claim before suit, followed by a waiting period." }, "note": "Mississippi combines a short notice, a mandatory waiting period, and a shortened one-year limitation period against government entities. All three have to be navigated." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Miss. Code § 15-1-59", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Tort Claims Act is treated separately and more restrictively." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined categories, principally latent injury." }, "page": { "quirk": "Against a government entity Mississippi shortens the limitation period from three years to one and adds a ninety-day notice on top of it.", "why": "The ordinary Mississippi deadline is one of the more generous in the South. Against a city, county or state vehicle it is one of the tightest. Same crash, completely different answer.", "corridors": "I-55 north-south, I-20 east-west, I-10 along the coast, and heavy timber, poultry and aggregate haulage on state routes.", "watchOut": "Timber haulage. Log trucks carry particular securement and weight questions, and the answers are in load tickets and scale records that nobody keeps long." } }, { "code": "MO", "name": "Missouri", "slug": "missouri", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 5, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120", "primarySource": "Missouri Revised Statutes", "url": "https://revisor.mo.gov/main/Home.aspx", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100", "primarySource": "Missouri Revised Statutes", "url": "https://revisor.mo.gov/main/Home.aspx", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Three years from death, against a five-year injury period. The death claim expires two years earlier." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 90, "state": { "days": 1825, "citation": "Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.600 et seq.", "note": "Sovereign immunity is waived in defined circumstances, notably for the negligent operation of motor vehicles by public employees." }, "local": { "days": 90, "citation": "Mo. Rev. Stat. § 82.210", "note": "Notice to a city of specified class is commonly ninety days for injuries from a defective condition — check whether it applies to the particular claim." }, "note": "Missouri's sovereign immunity waiver expressly covers negligent operation of motor vehicles, which is directly relevant to a government truck claim." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.170", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "The period generally runs from when the damage is sustained and is capable of ascertainment." }, "page": { "quirk": "Missouri gives five years to file an injury claim — among the longest in the country — and three for wrongful death.", "why": "A five-year deadline creates the most dangerous kind of false comfort. The federal retention minimum is six months regardless. Four and a half of those five years are spent with no records left to get.", "corridors": "I-70 and I-44 crossing at St. Louis, I-35 and I-29 through Kansas City, and the Mississippi and Missouri river port terminals feeding regional truck traffic.", "watchOut": "Missouri's sovereign immunity waiver specifically covers negligent operation of a motor vehicle by a public employee — which makes a government truck claim more viable here than in some neighbouring states." } }, { "code": "MT", "name": "Montana", "slug": "montana", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Mont. Code § 27-2-204", "primarySource": "Montana Code Annotated", "url": "https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Mont. Code § 27-2-204", "primarySource": "Montana Code Annotated", "url": "https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "Mont. Code § 2-9-301", "note": "Claims against the State are generally presented to the Department of Administration before suit." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "Mont. Code § 2-9-301(2)", "note": "Claims against a political subdivision are generally presented to its governing body." }, "note": "Montana requires presentment but does not impose the very short windows common elsewhere." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Mont. Code § 27-2-401", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Montana applies a discovery rule where the facts were concealed or not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Montana's road network combines very long distances, limited alternate routes and severe seasonal conditions, and a damaged tractor is frequently moved a long way from the crash site for repair.", "why": "Physical distance is an evidence problem. Once a tractor has been towed several hundred miles and repaired, the module data and the physical condition of the brakes are gone in a way that no letter recovers.", "corridors": "I-90 and I-94 east-west, I-15 north-south to the Canadian border, and heavy agricultural, fuel and mining haulage on two-lane state highways.", "watchOut": "Long-distance towing and repair. The preservation demand needs to reach the carrier, the insurer and the tow or repair yard, and it needs to go out in days rather than weeks." } }, { "code": "NE", "name": "Nebraska", "slug": "nebraska", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 4, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207", "primarySource": "Nebraska Revised Statutes", "url": "https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/browse-statutes.php", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-810", "primarySource": "Nebraska Revised Statutes", "url": "https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/browse-statutes.php", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a four-year injury period. The death claim expires two years earlier." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,227 (State Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Claims against the State generally filed within two years." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-919 (Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Claims against a political subdivision generally filed within one year." }, "note": "Nebraska runs different clocks for the State and for political subdivisions — two years versus one." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-213", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "Nebraska's four-year injury deadline is double its two-year wrongful death deadline — one of the widest splits between the two in the country.", "why": "Two people injured in the same crash, one of whom later dies, can end up on clocks two years apart. The family of the person who died has the shorter one.", "corridors": "I-80 across the state as a primary transcontinental freight route, and heavy agricultural, cattle and ethanol haulage on US highways feeding it.", "watchOut": "Livestock haulage carries specific hours-of-service exemptions in defined circumstances, which makes the actual log — rather than an assumption about what it should say — the thing that matters." } }, { "code": "NV", "name": "Nevada", "slug": "nevada", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "NRS § 11.190(4)(e)", "primarySource": "Nevada Revised Statutes", "url": "https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "NRS § 11.190(4)(e)", "primarySource": "Nevada Revised Statutes", "url": "https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "NRS § 41.036", "note": "Claims against the State generally filed with the Attorney General within two years." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "NRS § 41.036(2)", "note": "Claims against a political subdivision generally filed with its governing body within two years." }, "note": "Nevada requires presentment but on the same two-year clock as the ordinary limitation period." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "NRS § 11.250", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Nevada applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Nevada's freight geography is dominated by a small number of very long desert corridors with limited services, and a very high share of the traffic is through-freight between California and points east.", "why": "Through-freight means the carrier, the insurer, the tractor and the records are all somewhere else by the following morning. The window to demand preservation from an out-of-state carrier is the same six months, minus the time it takes to find them.", "corridors": "I-15 between Las Vegas and the California line — one of the heaviest truck corridors in the western United States — I-80 across the north, and US-95.", "watchOut": "Fatigue. Long desert runs with few stops concentrate hours-of-service problems, which makes the RODS the single most valuable document in a Nevada truck case and the one on the six-month clock." } }, { "code": "NH", "name": "New Hampshire", "slug": "new-hampshire", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "RSA § 508:4", "primarySource": "New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated", "url": "https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/indexes/default.html", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "RSA § 556:11", "primarySource": "New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated", "url": "https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/indexes/default.html", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "RSA § 541-B:14", "note": "Claims against the State are generally presented within a defined period; confirm the current figure." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "RSA § 507-B:7", "note": "Notice to a municipality is commonly required within 180 days of the date of injury." }, "note": "New Hampshire's municipal notice is strictly applied." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "RSA § 508:8", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "RSA 508:4 contains an express discovery provision." }, "page": { "quirk": "New Hampshire's limitation statute contains an express discovery provision written into the section itself, rather than leaving it to case law.", "why": "It matters for injuries that were not obvious at the roadside — a disc injury, a brain injury — where the diagnosis comes months later. But the discovery rule never rescues evidence, only the deadline.", "corridors": "I-93 and I-95 carrying New England freight, and heavy seasonal logging, aggregate and tourism-related haulage on secondary routes.", "watchOut": "The 180-day municipal notice against town highway departments and plough operations, which is a short window in a state where winter road maintenance is constant." } }, { "code": "NJ", "name": "New Jersey", "slug": "new-jersey", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "N.J.S.A. § 2A:14-2", "primarySource": "New Jersey Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "N.J.S.A. § 2A:31-3", "primarySource": "New Jersey Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 90, "state": { "days": 90, "citation": "N.J.S.A. § 59:8-8 (New Jersey Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Notice of claim generally within ninety days of accrual. Late notice may be permitted by court order within one year on a showing of extraordinary circumstances, but that is relief to apply for, not a deadline." }, "local": { "days": 90, "citation": "N.J.S.A. § 59:8-8", "note": "The same ninety-day rule covers counties, municipalities, school districts and authorities." }, "note": "Ninety days is among the shortest in the country and New Jersey applies it strictly." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "N.J.S.A. § 2A:14-21", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Tort Claims Act notice is treated separately and more restrictively." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "New Jersey applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "New Jersey's ninety-day government notice is one of the shortest in the country, and the state runs an exceptional density of public authorities that operate heavy vehicles.", "why": "Turnpike Authority, Transit, county utilities authorities, municipal public works — all of them are behind that ninety-day window, and all of them run trucks on the busiest freight corridor in the Northeast.", "corridors": "The New Jersey Turnpike and I-95, I-78 and I-80 feeding the Port of New York and New Jersey, and the warehouse concentration along the Turnpike's Exit 8A to Exit 12 corridor.", "watchOut": "Warehouse and distribution drayage. The density of fulfilment operations in central New Jersey puts an enormous volume of short-haul tractor traffic on local roads, run by carriers whose retention practices vary widely." } }, { "code": "NM", "name": "New Mexico", "slug": "new-mexico", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "NMSA § 37-1-8", "primarySource": "New Mexico Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "NMSA § 41-2-2", "primarySource": "New Mexico Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 90, "state": { "days": 90, "citation": "NMSA § 41-4-16 (New Mexico Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Written notice generally within ninety days of the occurrence, with a two-year limitation period against a governmental entity." }, "local": { "days": 90, "citation": "NMSA § 41-4-16", "note": "The same ninety-day notice covers local public bodies." }, "note": "New Mexico also shortens the limitation period against a governmental entity to two years, against the ordinary three." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "NMSA § 37-1-10", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Tort Claims Act is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "New Mexico carries heavy cross-border and long-haul traffic on corridors with very long distances between services, and the Santa Teresa port of entry has grown into a major commercial crossing.", "why": "Carriers running international freight can have complex corporate structures and insurance placed outside the United States. Identifying who to send the preservation letter to is itself a piece of work.", "corridors": "I-40 across the state, I-25 north-south, I-10 in the south, and the Santa Teresa commercial crossing near the Texas line.", "watchOut": "The ninety-day notice plus a two-year government limitation period. Both are shorter than the ordinary New Mexico rules." } }, { "code": "NY", "name": "New York", "slug": "new-york", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "CPLR § 214(5)", "primarySource": "New York Civil Practice Law and Rules", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "EPTL § 5-4.1", "primarySource": "New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EPT", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a three-year injury period, and the claim must generally be brought by a personal representative — so the estate has to be opened first, which takes time." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 90, "state": { "days": 90, "citation": "Court of Claims Act § 10", "note": "Claim or notice of intention against the State generally within ninety days of accrual." }, "local": { "days": 90, "citation": "General Municipal Law § 50-e", "note": "Notice of claim against a municipality, school district or public authority generally within ninety days, followed by a statutory hearing right and a one-year-and-ninety-day limitation period." }, "note": "New York's one year and ninety days limitation period against municipalities is much shorter than the ordinary three years, and it is easy to miss after correctly serving the notice." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajorityCapped", "capYears": 10, "citation": "CPLR § 208", "note": "Tolled during infancy, subject to an outside cap. The General Municipal Law notice requirement is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined categories; an ordinary crash claim generally accrues at the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "New York gives three years to sue a private trucking company and one year and ninety days to sue a city. Serving the ninety-day notice correctly does not extend that.", "why": "It is the classic New York sequence: the notice is served on time, everyone relaxes, and the shortened limitation period runs out while the case is still in the hearing stage.", "corridors": "I-87 and I-95 through the New York City region, the Cross Bronx Expressway, I-90 across upstate, and the bridge and tunnel network where clearance and route restrictions generate their own category of truck crashes.", "watchOut": "The estate. A New York wrongful death claim generally has to be brought by a personal representative, and the two-year clock does not wait for the Surrogate's Court to appoint one." } }, { "code": "NC", "name": "North Carolina", "slug": "north-carolina", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "N.C.G.S. § 1-52(16)", "primarySource": "North Carolina General Statutes", "url": "https://www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatutes", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "N.C.G.S. § 1-53(4)", "primarySource": "North Carolina General Statutes", "url": "https://www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatutes", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a three-year injury period." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 1095, "state": { "days": 1095, "citation": "N.C.G.S. § 143-299 (Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Claims against State agencies generally go to the Industrial Commission, commonly within three years." }, "local": { "days": 1095, "citation": "N.C.G.S. § 1-52; local charters", "note": "Municipal liability depends on waiver of governmental immunity, commonly through the purchase of liability insurance. City charters can impose their own notice requirements." }, "note": "In North Carolina the question against a local entity is often not the deadline but whether immunity was waived at all." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "N.C.G.S. § 1-17", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances, principally latent injury." }, "page": { "quirk": "North Carolina is a pure contributory negligence state. Any contributory fault by the injured person generally bars recovery entirely.", "why": "Only a handful of jurisdictions still work this way, and it makes the objective evidence decisive. When one percent of fault ends the case, the driver's log and the ECM download are not supporting material — they are the case.", "corridors": "I-95 along the eastern seaboard, I-85 and I-40 through the Piedmont, and growing container drayage from the Port of Wilmington.", "watchOut": "Contributory negligence makes early evidence preservation more urgent in North Carolina than in almost any comparative-fault state. There is no partial recovery to fall back on." } }, { "code": "ND", "name": "North Dakota", "slug": "north-dakota", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 6, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16", "primarySource": "North Dakota Century Code", "url": "https://www.legis.nd.gov/general-information/north-dakota-century-code", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "N.D.C.C. § 28-01-18(4)", "primarySource": "North Dakota Century Code", "url": "https://www.legis.nd.gov/general-information/north-dakota-century-code", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a six-year injury period — a three-fold difference, the widest split in the dataset." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "N.D.C.C. § 32-12.2-04", "note": "Claims against the State generally presented within 180 days of when the alleged injury was discovered or reasonably should have been." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "N.D.C.C. § 32-12.1-04", "note": "Claims against a political subdivision generally presented within 180 days." }, "note": "North Dakota's 180-day windows run from discovery." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "N.D.C.C. § 28-01-25", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "North Dakota applies a discovery rule in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "North Dakota has the widest gap in the country between its injury deadline and its wrongful death deadline — six years against two.", "why": "The same crash produces two answers three years apart depending on whether the person survived. A family reading that North Dakota allows six years is reading the wrong number for their claim.", "corridors": "I-94 and I-29, and very heavy energy-sector haulage in the Bakken formation in the west — oilfield water, sand, crude and equipment moving on rural two-lane roads.", "watchOut": "Oilfield haulage. Energy-sector trucking involves layered contracting between operators, service companies and owner-operators, and working out who is responsible requires records that are not kept long." } }, { "code": "OH", "name": "Ohio", "slug": "ohio", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "R.C. § 2305.10", "primarySource": "Ohio Revised Code", "url": "https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "R.C. § 2125.02(D)", "primarySource": "Ohio Revised Code", "url": "https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "R.C. § 2743.16 (Court of Claims)", "note": "Claims against the State generally go to the Court of Claims, commonly within two years." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "R.C. Chapter 2744 (Political Subdivision Tort Liability)", "note": "Political subdivisions hold broad immunity with defined exceptions, one of which covers negligent operation of a motor vehicle by an employee." }, "note": "Ohio's Chapter 2744 immunity has an express motor vehicle exception, which is directly relevant to a government truck claim." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "R.C. § 2305.16", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined categories; an ordinary crash claim generally accrues at the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "Ohio's political subdivision immunity statute contains an express exception for the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by an employee acting within the scope of employment.", "why": "That exception is the reason a claim against a municipal truck is viable in Ohio where a claim arising from some other municipal function would not be. It is worth knowing the exception exists.", "corridors": "I-70, I-71, I-75 and I-80 — the Ohio Turnpike — crossing at Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, with the Toledo and Cleveland lakefront terminals adding port traffic.", "watchOut": "Ohio's two-year deadline is on the shorter side for a state with this volume of freight. The gap to the six-month evidence clock is eighteen months, and it closes quietly." } }, { "code": "OK", "name": "Oklahoma", "slug": "oklahoma", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "12 O.S. § 95(A)(3)", "primarySource": "Oklahoma Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "12 O.S. § 1053", "primarySource": "Oklahoma Statutes", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "51 O.S. § 156 (Governmental Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Written notice generally within one year of the loss, followed by a ninety-day agency review and a 180-day window to sue after denial." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "51 O.S. § 156", "note": "The same one-year notice covers political subdivisions." }, "note": "Oklahoma's post-denial window is the trap — 180 days after denial, which can arrive well before the ordinary two-year period would have expired." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "12 O.S. § 96", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Governmental Tort Claims Act is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "Oklahoma's government claim process has three deadlines in sequence: one year to give notice, ninety days for the agency to respond, then 180 days to sue after denial.", "why": "The last one catches people. Once a claim is denied the clock is 180 days regardless of how much of the ordinary two-year period is left.", "corridors": "I-40 and I-44 crossing at Oklahoma City, I-35 north-south, and heavy energy-sector and agricultural haulage on state routes.", "watchOut": "Energy-sector haulage, where the entity that owns the truck, the entity that employs the driver and the entity that contracted the haul are frequently three different companies." } }, { "code": "OR", "name": "Oregon", "slug": "oregon", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "ORS § 12.110", "primarySource": "Oregon Revised Statutes", "url": "https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/Pages/ORS.aspx", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "ORS § 30.020", "primarySource": "Oregon Revised Statutes", "url": "https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/Pages/ORS.aspx", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "UNUSUAL: Oregon commonly measures the wrongful death period from the date of the INJURY causing death, not the date of death, with an outside limit from death. Where death follows the crash by months, the clock may already have been running." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "ORS § 30.275 (Oregon Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Notice generally within 180 days of the alleged loss; one year for wrongful death." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "ORS § 30.275", "note": "The same notice provision covers local public bodies." }, "note": "Oregon also shortens the limitation period against a public body to two years from accrual." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajorityCapped", "capYears": 5, "citation": "ORS § 12.160", "note": "Tolled during minority subject to an outside cap. Do not assume a full period from the 18th birthday." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Oregon applies a discovery rule." }, "page": { "quirk": "Oregon measures its wrongful death period from the injury rather than from the death — one of the few states that does.", "why": "It reverses the usual assumption. In most states a death months after a crash restarts the clock. In Oregon the clock may have been running since the collision, and a family that waited for the death to occur has already lost months.", "corridors": "I-5 the length of the state, I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge, and heavy forest-products and agricultural haulage on secondary routes.", "watchOut": "The Columbia Gorge. Sustained grades and severe wind exposure produce a particular category of load-shift and rollover crashes where securement records are central." } }, { "code": "PA", "name": "Pennsylvania", "slug": "pennsylvania", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "42 Pa.C.S. § 5524", "primarySource": "Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes", "url": "https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/Public/cons_index.cfm", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2)", "primarySource": "Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes", "url": "https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/Public/cons_index.cfm", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "42 Pa.C.S. § 5522(a)", "note": "Notice to a Commonwealth agency generally within six months of the injury." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "42 Pa.C.S. § 5522(a)", "note": "The same six-month notice covers local agencies." }, "note": "Pennsylvania's sovereign and governmental immunity statutes contain a vehicle exception, which is the provision that makes a government truck claim possible." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "42 Pa.C.S. § 5533(b)", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Pennsylvania applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably ascertainable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Pennsylvania carries an exceptional density of long-haul freight on mountainous interstates, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike's sustained grades and older geometry produce a distinct pattern of heavy-vehicle crashes.", "why": "Brake and downgrade cases turn on maintenance records and ECM data rather than on eyewitness accounts. Both categories are the ones with the least protection from time.", "corridors": "I-76 the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-78, I-80 and I-81 — a corridor carrying enormous volumes of East Coast freight — and the warehouse concentration in the Lehigh Valley and around Harrisburg.", "watchOut": "The Lehigh Valley and Harrisburg distribution corridors have grown extremely fast, putting a very high volume of short-haul tractor traffic on roads that were not designed for it." } }, { "code": "RI", "name": "Rhode Island", "slug": "rhode-island", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14(b)", "primarySource": "Rhode Island General Laws", "url": "http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-7-2", "primarySource": "Rhode Island General Laws", "url": "http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 1095, "state": { "days": 1095, "citation": "R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-31-1 et seq.", "note": "Rhode Island waives sovereign immunity broadly and does not impose the short pre-suit notice common elsewhere." }, "local": { "days": 1095, "citation": "R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-15-5 (claims against towns)", "note": "Specific notice requirements can apply to particular claim types against a town; confirm for the claim in question." }, "note": "Rhode Island's broad immunity waiver makes it one of the more straightforward states for a government vehicle claim." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-19", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "Rhode Island's road network is compact and heavily bridged, and truck route restrictions and bridge weight postings are unusually significant here.", "why": "Whether a tractor-trailer was permitted on the road where the crash happened is a documentary question, and a route violation changes the case. The dispatch and routing record answers it.", "corridors": "I-95 through Providence, I-195 and I-295, and the Port of Providence generating regional freight traffic.", "watchOut": "Routing and bridge restrictions. A vehicle that should not have been on that road at all is a different case from one that simply crashed, and the routing record is the proof." } }, { "code": "SC", "name": "South Carolina", "slug": "south-carolina", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "S.C. Code § 15-3-530", "primarySource": "South Carolina Code of Laws", "url": "https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/statmast.php", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "S.C. Code § 15-3-530", "primarySource": "South Carolina Code of Laws", "url": "https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/statmast.php", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "S.C. Code § 15-78-110 (South Carolina Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Commonly two years from the loss, extended to three if a verified claim is filed with the agency within one year." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "S.C. Code § 15-78-110", "note": "The same rule covers political subdivisions." }, "note": "South Carolina is unusual in that filing a verified claim can EXTEND the deadline rather than merely preserve it." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "S.C. Code § 15-3-40", "note": "Generally tolled during minority, subject to statutory limits." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "South Carolina applies a discovery rule — the period generally runs from when the facts should have been discovered by reasonable diligence." }, "page": { "quirk": "South Carolina rewards early action against a government entity. Filing a verified claim within a year commonly extends the deadline from two years to three rather than simply preserving it.", "why": "It is the rare situation where moving quickly buys more time rather than less. In most states a notice merely keeps the door open; here it can widen it.", "corridors": "I-95 and I-26 carrying freight to the Port of Charleston — one of the fastest-growing container ports on the East Coast — and I-85 through the Upstate manufacturing corridor.", "watchOut": "Charleston drayage volume has grown substantially, and with it the number of small carriers operating short-haul container moves on regional roads." } }, { "code": "SD", "name": "South Dakota", "slug": "south-dakota", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "S.D.C.L. § 15-2-14(3)", "primarySource": "South Dakota Codified Laws", "url": "https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "S.D.C.L. § 21-5-3", "primarySource": "South Dakota Codified Laws", "url": "https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "S.D.C.L. § 3-21-2", "note": "Written notice generally within 180 days of the injury." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "S.D.C.L. § 3-21-2", "note": "The same 180-day notice covers political subdivisions." }, "note": "South Dakota's notice provision is uniform across state and local entities." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "S.D.C.L. § 15-2-22", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "South Dakota's freight traffic is dominated by long-distance agricultural and livestock haulage over large distances with sparse services, much of it by small carriers.", "why": "Small carriers keep the least. A two-truck operation may have no telematics vendor at all, and the six-month federal minimum for driver logs is frequently the entire retention policy.", "corridors": "I-90 across the state and I-29 north-south, plus dense seasonal grain and cattle movement on US and state highways.", "watchOut": "Seasonal agricultural exemptions change what the hours-of-service record is required to show, which makes obtaining the actual record more important than assuming what it contains." } }, { "code": "TN", "name": "Tennessee", "slug": "tennessee", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 1, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Tenn. Code § 28-3-104(a)(1)", "primarySource": "Tennessee Code Annotated", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "IMPORTANT: Tennessee's one-year period is among the shortest in the country. It is commonly extended to TWO years where criminal charges are brought against the driver arising from the same incident — Tenn. Code § 28-3-104(a)(2). Whether that extension applies is a fact question about the prosecution, not something this tool can determine." }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 1, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Tenn. Code § 28-3-104", "primarySource": "Tennessee Code Annotated", "url": "https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Subject to the same possible two-year extension where criminal charges are filed." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Tenn. Code § 9-8-402 (Division of Claims and Risk Management)", "note": "Claims against the State are generally filed with the Division of Claims and Risk Management within the limitation period." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "Tenn. Code § 29-20-305 (Governmental Tort Liability Act)", "note": "Suit against a governmental entity generally within twelve months of the cause of action arising." }, "note": "Tennessee's government deadline is twelve months, which matches its ordinary one-year period rather than shortening it." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Tenn. Code § 28-1-106", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Tennessee applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Tennessee gives one year — among the shortest deadlines in the country — and in a truck case the evidence clock and the legal clock nearly converge.", "why": "Everywhere else this tool shows a wide gap between years and months. In Tennessee the filing deadline is twelve months and the driver logs are gone at six. There is no comfortable margin anywhere in the timeline.", "corridors": "I-40 across the state, I-24, I-65 and I-75 converging on Nashville, Memphis as a national air and ground freight hub, and Chattanooga's interstate junction.", "watchOut": "The criminal-charge extension. If the driver was charged, the period may be two years rather than one — but nobody should plan around a possibility that depends on a prosecutor's decision." } }, { "code": "TX", "name": "Texas", "slug": "texas", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a)", "primarySource": "Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code", "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(b)", "primarySource": "Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code", "url": "https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 45, "state": { "days": 180, "citation": "Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101(a)", "note": "Notice generally within six months of the incident under the Texas Tort Claims Act." }, "local": { "days": 45, "citation": "Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101(b)", "note": "CRITICAL: a city charter or ordinance may require notice in a SHORTER period, and Texas charters commonly specify 45, 60 or 90 days. The charter governs." }, "note": "This is the shortest figure in the dataset and it is not set by statute — it is set by the individual city's charter. There is no way to know a given city's number without reading that city's charter." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.001", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; Tort Claims Act notice requirements are treated separately and are not simply tolled." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined categories; an ordinary crash claim generally accrues at the collision." }, "page": { "quirk": "Texas has the shortest government deadline in this dataset, and it is not written in any statute. City charters set their own notice periods, and forty-five days is common.", "why": "A person hit by a city truck in Texas can be out of time before they have finished their first course of physical therapy — and the number that barred them appears in a municipal charter, not in the state code everyone looks at.", "corridors": "I-35 through Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, I-10 and I-20 east-west, I-45 between Houston and Dallas, the Houston Ship Channel petrochemical corridor, and the Laredo port of entry — the busiest commercial land crossing in the United States.", "watchOut": "Oilfield and Permian Basin haulage, where sand, water and crude are moved by layered contractors on rural roads, and the entity that owns the truck is rarely the entity that controlled the work." } }, { "code": "UT", "name": "Utah", "slug": "utah", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 4, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Utah Code § 78B-2-307", "primarySource": "Utah Code", "url": "https://le.utah.gov/xcode/code.html", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Utah Code § 78B-2-304", "primarySource": "Utah Code", "url": "https://le.utah.gov/xcode/code.html", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a four-year injury period." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 365, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Utah Code § 63G-7-402", "note": "Notice of claim generally within one year of the claim arising, followed by a sixty-day agency period and one year to sue after denial." }, "local": { "days": 365, "citation": "Utah Code § 63G-7-402", "note": "The same notice provision covers political subdivisions." }, "note": "Utah's post-denial year is a separate deadline that runs independently of the ordinary four-year period." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Utah Code § 78B-2-108", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Governmental Immunity Act notice is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "Utah's four-year injury deadline is double its two-year wrongful death deadline, and its government notice is one year regardless of either.", "why": "Three different numbers on one crash. The one that matters most to a grieving family is the shortest of the three, and it is the one least likely to be the figure they find first.", "corridors": "I-15 the length of the Wasatch Front, I-80 east-west, and the Parleys Canyon descent into Salt Lake City, a sustained downgrade with a long history of heavy-vehicle brake incidents.", "watchOut": "Downgrade and brake cases. Parleys and the other canyon descents make maintenance records and ECM data decisive, and neither survives long." } }, { "code": "VT", "name": "Vermont", "slug": "vermont", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "12 V.S.A. § 512(4)", "primarySource": "Vermont Statutes Annotated", "url": "https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "14 V.S.A. § 1492(a)", "primarySource": "Vermont Statutes Annotated", "url": "https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a three-year injury period." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 1095, "state": { "days": 1095, "citation": "12 V.S.A. § 5601 et seq. (Vermont Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Vermont does not generally impose the short pre-suit notice common in other states." }, "local": { "days": 1095, "citation": "24 V.S.A. and municipal charters", "note": "Specific notice requirements can apply to particular claim types, notably highway defect claims against towns." }, "note": "Vermont is one of the more straightforward states for government claim timing, but highway defect claims against towns have their own rules." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "12 V.S.A. § 551", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Vermont applies a discovery rule where the injury was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Vermont's truck traffic runs disproportionately on two-lane state highways rather than interstates, and a large share of it is through-freight moving between Canada and southern New England.", "why": "Cross-border carriers add a layer to every step — identifying the motor carrier, finding the insurer, serving the preservation demand. Each of those steps costs days against a six-month clock.", "corridors": "I-89 and I-91, US-7, and the Highgate and Derby Line border crossings feeding Canadian freight into the state.", "watchOut": "Winter maintenance and town highway operations. Vermont towns run their own plough fleets and highway defect claims against them carry separate notice requirements." } }, { "code": "VA", "name": "Virginia", "slug": "virginia", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Va. Code § 8.01-243(A)", "primarySource": "Code of Virginia", "url": "https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Va. Code § 8.01-244(B)", "primarySource": "Code of Virginia", "url": "https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 180, "state": { "days": 365, "citation": "Va. Code § 8.01-195.6 (Virginia Tort Claims Act)", "note": "Written notice to the Director of Risk Management or the Attorney General generally within one year of accrual." }, "local": { "days": 180, "citation": "Va. Code § 15.2-209", "note": "Notice to a city, town or county is commonly required within six months of the incident." }, "note": "Virginia runs different windows for the Commonwealth and for localities — one year versus six months." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Va. Code § 8.01-229(A)", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": false, "note": "Virginia applies a discovery rule narrowly. In an ordinary negligence claim the period generally runs from the date of injury even if its full extent was not then apparent." }, "page": { "quirk": "Virginia is a pure contributory negligence jurisdiction and applies the discovery rule narrowly — a combination that makes it one of the least forgiving states in the country for an injured person who waits.", "why": "Any contributory fault generally bars the claim, and the clock usually runs from the crash regardless of when the injury was diagnosed. Both of those push in the same direction: the objective evidence has to be secured immediately.", "corridors": "I-95 and I-64 including the Hampton Roads tunnel crossings, I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley carrying very heavy north-south freight, and the Port of Virginia drayage network.", "watchOut": "I-81 has one of the highest proportions of heavy-truck traffic of any interstate in the country, on terrain with sustained grades and limited shoulders." } }, { "code": "WA", "name": "Washington", "slug": "washington", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "RCW § 4.16.080(2)", "primarySource": "Revised Code of Washington", "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "RCW § 4.16.080; RCW § 4.20.010", "primarySource": "Revised Code of Washington", "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 60, "state": { "days": 60, "citation": "RCW § 4.92.110", "note": "A claim must generally be presented and a sixty-day waiting period observed before suit against the State." }, "local": { "days": 60, "citation": "RCW § 4.96.020", "note": "The same presentment-and-wait structure applies to local governmental entities." }, "note": "Washington's sixty days is a mandatory WAITING period after presentment, not a deadline to present. The distinction matters: the trap is filing too early, not too late — but the waiting period still has to fit inside the three-year limitation period." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "RCW § 4.16.190", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Washington applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Washington's sixty-day government rule is the opposite shape to every other state's. It is not a deadline to file a notice — it is a mandatory wait after filing one, before suit can be brought.", "why": "People who understand it as a deadline sometimes rush a notice and then file suit immediately, which fails for the opposite reason. The sixty days has to elapse, and it has to fit inside the limitation period.", "corridors": "I-5 the length of the state, I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass, and very heavy drayage serving the Northwest Seaport Alliance terminals at Seattle and Tacoma.", "watchOut": "Mountain pass operations. Snoqualmie and the other passes involve chain requirements and closure decisions, and whether the load should have been moving at all is answered in dispatch records." } }, { "code": "WV", "name": "West Virginia", "slug": "west-virginia", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "W. Va. Code § 55-2-12", "primarySource": "West Virginia Code", "url": "https://code.wvlegislature.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "W. Va. Code § 55-7-6(d)", "primarySource": "West Virginia Code", "url": "https://code.wvlegislature.gov/", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "W. Va. Code § 14-2-1 et seq. (Court of Claims)", "note": "Claims against the State generally go to the Legislative Claims Commission." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "W. Va. Code § 29-12A-1 et seq. (Governmental Tort Claims and Insurance Reform Act)", "note": "Political subdivision liability is governed by Chapter 29-12A, which contains a motor vehicle exception to immunity." }, "note": "West Virginia does not impose the very short pre-suit notice common elsewhere, but its political subdivision statute has its own structure." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "W. Va. Code § 55-2-15", "note": "Generally tolled during minority." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "West Virginia applies a discovery rule where the injury or its cause was not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "West Virginia's terrain concentrates heavy truck traffic onto a small number of mountain corridors with sustained grades, and coal and aggregate haulage adds heavily loaded vehicles on secondary roads.", "why": "Overweight and brake-condition questions dominate. Both are answered by weight tickets, maintenance records and ECM data — documents held by the carrier, on the carrier's own retention schedule.", "corridors": "I-77 and I-79, the West Virginia Turnpike, I-64 and I-68, and heavy coal and aggregate haulage on two-lane state routes.", "watchOut": "Coal haulage weight limits. Whether a vehicle was legally loaded is a documentary question and the tickets are not kept indefinitely." } }, { "code": "WI", "name": "Wisconsin", "slug": "wisconsin", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a)", "primarySource": "Wisconsin Statutes", "url": "https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/prefaces/toc", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 3, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(b)", "primarySource": "Wisconsin Statutes", "url": "https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/prefaces/toc", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Wisconsin has amended § 893.54 and related provisions; wrongful death arising from a motor vehicle accident may run on a different period from the general rule. Verify against the current text." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 120, "state": { "days": 120, "citation": "Wis. Stat. § 893.82", "note": "Notice of claim to the Attorney General generally within 120 days of the event." }, "local": { "days": 120, "citation": "Wis. Stat. § 893.80(1d)", "note": "Written notice of the circumstances generally within 120 days, plus an itemised claim." }, "note": "Wisconsin requires both a notice of circumstances and an itemised claim against local entities — two documents, not one." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "shortWindowAfterMajority", "capYears": 2, "citation": "Wis. Stat. § 893.16", "note": "Wisconsin commonly gives a limited window after the disability is removed rather than the full period from the 18th birthday." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Wisconsin applies a discovery rule where the injury and its cause were not reasonably discoverable." }, "page": { "quirk": "Wisconsin requires two separate documents against a local government — a notice of the circumstances and an itemised statement of the claim — and both have to be right.", "why": "It is a procedural trap that timing alone does not solve. A person who serves one document within 120 days believing they have complied may still be short.", "corridors": "I-94 between Milwaukee and Madison and onward to Minnesota, I-43 and I-41, and heavy dairy, agricultural and aggregate haulage on rural routes.", "watchOut": "Wisconsin's minority tolling is narrower than the general rule. Do not assume a child's claim resets fully at eighteen." } }, { "code": "WY", "name": "Wyoming", "slug": "wyoming", "verified": false, "verifiedBy": null, "verifiedDate": null, "provenance": "model-knowledge-unverified", "personalInjury": { "years": 4, "runsFrom": "crash", "citation": "Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(iv)(C)", "primarySource": "Wyoming Statutes", "url": "https://wyoleg.gov/StateStatutes/StatutesConstitution", "urlPrecision": "code-root" }, "wrongfulDeath": { "years": 2, "runsFrom": "death", "citation": "Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102(d)", "primarySource": "Wyoming Statutes", "url": "https://wyoleg.gov/StateStatutes/StatutesConstitution", "urlPrecision": "code-root", "note": "Two years from death against a four-year injury period." }, "governmentNotice": { "shortestDays": 730, "state": { "days": 730, "citation": "Wyo. Stat. § 1-39-113 (Wyoming Governmental Claims Act)", "note": "Claim generally presented within two years of the date of the alleged act, with specific content and signature requirements grounded in the state constitution." }, "local": { "days": 730, "citation": "Wyo. Stat. § 1-39-113", "note": "The same provision covers local government entities." }, "note": "Wyoming's claim requirements have a constitutional dimension and courts have treated defects in the claim itself as fatal, even when timely." }, "minorTolling": { "rule": "untilMajority", "capYears": null, "citation": "Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-114", "note": "Generally tolled during minority; the Governmental Claims Act is treated separately." }, "discoveryRule": { "applies": true, "note": "Applied in defined circumstances." }, "page": { "quirk": "Wyoming's government claim has constitutional content and signature requirements, and a claim that is timely but technically defective has been held insufficient.", "why": "Being early does not protect a document that does not say what the constitution requires it to say. This is a state where the government claim genuinely needs a lawyer to draft.", "corridors": "I-80 across the south — a transcontinental freight route with severe winter wind and closure conditions — I-25 north-south, and very heavy energy-sector haulage in the Powder River Basin.", "watchOut": "I-80 wind closures and high-profile vehicle restrictions. Whether a trailer should have been moving in the conditions is answered by the closure record and the carrier's dispatch decision." } } ] }