Published March 5, 2010 · Injury Law Basics

The adjuster has been friendly for months. She returns your calls, asks how physical therapy is going, and says the company will "take a look at everything" once you finish treating. Then one day the tone changes. The offer is a fraction of your bills, and when you push back, she mentions, almost in passing, that the statute of limitations has run.

That scenario plays out in Ohio more often than it should. Here is what the deadline is, how it works, and why the insurance company's patience is not the same thing as your protection.

The basic rule: two years from the injury

Ohio's general deadline for injury lawsuits is set by R.C. 2305.10(A). It says that an action "for bodily injury or injuring personal property shall be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues," and that for most injuries the cause of action accrues "when the injury or loss to person or property occurs."

In practical terms, if you were hurt in a car crash, a fall, or a dog attack on March 5, 2010, a lawsuit must be filed in court by March 5, 2012. Not a claim with an insurer, not a demand letter, not a phone call. A complaint, filed with the clerk of courts.

A "statute of limitations" is simply a law that sets the time within which a lawsuit must be filed. If the deadline passes, the claim is gone, no matter how strong it was or how badly you were hurt. Courts do not make exceptions for people who were negotiating in good faith, were still treating, or did not know the rule.

The insurance company already knows the date

Every claim file at every auto insurer in Ohio has the loss date on the front page, and every adjuster knows the two-year rule. That knowledge creates an incentive you should understand.

An adjuster has no reason to settle early for full value if the claim might disappear on its own. The longer a claim sits, the more likely the injured person will get frustrated, lose track of the calendar, or accept a low offer out of exhaustion. None of this requires bad faith; it is simply how the incentives line up when one side knows the rules and the other does not.

A lawyer removes that incentive. Once a lawsuit is filed, or the insurer knows one will be filed in time, the only question left is what the case is worth.

Why two years is shorter than it sounds

Two years feels like a long time on the day you are hurt. It is not, for several reasons.

Treatment takes time. A serious injury often is not fully understood for a year or more. Surgery may be delayed, a herniated disc may not be diagnosed until conservative treatment fails, and the permanence of an injury cannot be assessed until the doctor says you have reached maximum medical improvement. A case settled before that point is a case settled for too little.

Investigation takes time. Witnesses move. Businesses record over surveillance video. Vehicles are repaired or scrapped. Phone records get purged. Good cases are built on evidence that has to be gathered early.

Filing a lawsuit takes time. A complaint has to be drafted, defendants have to be identified correctly, and the right court has to be chosen. If the at-fault driver has died or moved, or if a company rather than an individual is responsible, that work can take weeks.

If you call a lawyer twenty months after a crash, all of that work is compressed into four months. If you call in the first few weeks, it can be done right.

Claims with different rules

The two-year rule is the general one, but it is not the only one. Several kinds of claims have their own deadlines or extra requirements, and some are shorter.

  • Wrongful death. When an injury causes death, the family's claim is governed by its own statute with its own timing, and the claim must be brought by the personal representative of the estate. Read more on our wrongful death page.
  • Medical claims. Claims against doctors, hospitals, and other providers have a shorter limitations period and additional rules that must be followed before and when the case is filed.
  • Claims involving the government. Claims against the State of Ohio, a city, a county, or their employees involve immunity statutes, notice requirements, and in some cases a different court entirely. See our page on claims against the government.
  • Your own insurance policy. Ohio law allows auto insurers to require that uninsured and underinsured motorist claims be brought within three years of the crash. R.C. 3937.18(H) permits that policy term, and most Ohio policies include it. We discussed this trap in our recent post on UM/UIM coverage.
  • Injured children. Ohio has rules that pause the deadline for minors and certain other people, but relying on them without legal advice is risky, and a parent's own related claims may not be paused at all.

Each of these areas deserves its own discussion, and we will return to them in later posts. The point for now is that you should never assume you have two years. Ask.

What this means for you

Write down the date you were hurt. Count forward two years. Then subtract at least six months, because that is roughly the cushion a lawyer needs to prepare and file a lawsuit properly.

If you are within a year of the deadline and still dealing with an insurer on your own, call a lawyer now. If the insurer has been "evaluating" your claim for more than a few months with no written offer, that is not patience; it is the calendar working against you.

And if the deadline is close, do not accept any settlement, sign any release, or give any recorded statement until you have talked to someone who represents only you. An insurer's offer in the final weeks before the limitations period expires is usually priced on the assumption that you will not file.

This article is general information about Ohio law, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and rules change; talk to a lawyer about your specific case.