Pausing the Statute of Limitations in a Personal Injury Case

When plaintiffs file a personal injury lawsuit they must pay close attention to the applicable statute of limitations. This is the limited amount of time during which they are allowed to take legal action against a defendant who harmed them. 

In California, this time limit is two years from the accident. In some limited circumstances (for example while the injured person is a minor or lacks legal capacity, Code of Civil Procedure §352), this deadline can be suspended. A Los Angeles personal injury attorney can help you understand the legal limitations and, when possible in your case, pause the statute of limitations. 

The discovery rule

The statute of limitations may depend on the type of accident you’ve suffered. As a general rule, this time period is two years from the date the accident took place but in medical malpractice cases, it is three years from the date of injury or one year from the date the injury was (or should have been) discovered, whichever comes first (Code of Civil Procedure §340.5).

If you were the victim or medical negligence, a medical malpractice lawyer in Los Angeles can analyse the case and tell you if pausing the statute of limitations is possible in your case. An attorney can help build the case if you were mistreated in the hospital while receiving treatment for another injury or disease. Reach out to us for cases involving mistreatment, misdiagnosis or more.

This time period is significantly reduced for personal injury claims against a government entity. In these cases, a written claim must generally be presented to the public entity within six months of the injury (Government Code §911.2), and a lawsuit must usually be filed within six months after written notice that the claim was rejected (Government Code §945.6).

One of the most common cases in which the statute of limitations can be stalled occurs if discovery of the injury is delayed. The normal statute of limitations runs from the date of the injury but this will not apply if the injury is not discoverable at that particular time. Under the discovery rule, the statute of limitations only applies from the date the plaintiff discovers (or should have discovered) the injury. This can also apply if the plaintiff is well aware of the injury but it is not certain that the defendant caused the injury.

Bringing your case forward is important in all situations, however, if you or your child were injured during birth, you will want to discuss the case with a birth injury attorney in Los Angelesas soon as you are able to, or as soon as you discover that your injuries were caused during childbirth, given the fact that medical negligence cases allow for the discovery rule (for injuries to minors, Code of Civil Procedure §340.5 allows three years from the wrongful act, or until the eighth birthday for a child injured before age six, whichever is longer).

A Los Angeles personal injury attorney can help analyze the case and determine if the statute of limitations can be tolled.

Your personal injury claim

The statute of limitations starts to run when the claim accrues (usually on the date of the injury) unless one of the situations described above applies to your case. If you choose to take the case to court you will have to observe this two year period. Any claims submitted after this time are likely to be dismissed by the judge.

The help of an expert can be useful in determining if your case is valid and if you can still recover damages within the two year period.

Contact us through the form for more information.