Car accident claims – whether through your insurance, the other driver’s insurance, or through a lawsuit – can be powerful enough to get your damages paid after a car crash, but you have to file them on time. If you miss the filing deadlines for your case, then it is possible you could be left without any legal options to get your claim paid.
Injury lawsuits in Pennsylvania – including car accident claims – have a 2-year statute of limitations. This means that the case only has to be filed in court by that point; you do not have to finish the entire trial by the time 2 years passes. When it comes to filing insurance claims, it may be possible to wait a full 2 years, but insurance companies typically require you to report the accident to them much sooner. Check your policy if you plan on filing an insurance claim.
If you were hurt in a crash, reach out to our Pennsylvania car accident lawyers as soon as you can at Leeson & Leeson by calling (610) 890-6332.
The Deadline to File Car Accident Injury Lawsuits in Pennsylvania
Most injury cases in Pennsylvania follow a 2-year statute of limitations under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524. Specifically under subsection (2) of that statute, we find the listing for any “injuries to the person.”
When calculating the exact timing for the 2-year statute of limitations, Pennsylvania courts start with the day of the injury itself. That means that we count from 2 years after the crash, not from the time you wake up in the hospital or the time you are released from treatment or anything like that. However, there are some exceptions that might draw out the timeline, such as being injured while you are a minor. In that case, the clock starts when you turn 18.
Requirements for Meeting the Statute of Limitations in a Pennsylvania Car Accident Claim
To make sure you can meet this 2-year filing deadline, you should call our Pennsylvania car accident lawyers as soon as you can after the case. Many car accident cases have complex facts, and your injuries might need to be monitored over time to see whether they will get better or worse and what damages we might need to claim for your case. This is all to say that there is a lot of work our lawyers need to do to get your case filed on time, and you should not add to the delay by waiting to call a lawyer.
Typically, you should collect all evidence you can at the scene of the accident and then, as soon as you are able to after the accident, call our lawyers to take up your case. From there, we can pick up the rest of the evidence collection, research the facts of your case, talk to witnesses, and put together the filings for your case. We can also help you file insurance claims and potentially get some of your damages covered in the meantime while we prepare the rest of your case and file it in court.
To meet the filing deadline, we merely need to get the case written up and filed in court; we do not need to finish motions or actually hold a trial on your case before the 2 years have expired. However, our initial filing in court – the “complaint” – does need to be complete by the time we file it. We sometimes cannot go back later and add other defendants or swap out the defendant after the deadline passes. There are also certain damages and injuries that need to be included in this initial complaint, or else they cannot be amended into the case later.
If there are mistakes as to who the defendant was or where the accident happened, it is better to know about these earlier than to be stuck filing on the very last day in the wrong court or with the wrong defendant listed.
Deadline for Filing Insurance Claims for Car Crashes in Pennsylvania
Most drivers in Pennsylvania have limited tort insurance. This means that you file with your own insurance company after the accident, and they pay for medical bills and lost wages (subject to certain percentages for reimbursement and certain deductible payments). While insurance companies may have to accept a claim filed all the way up to the 2-year court deadline, your policy might have much quicker reporting and filing rules.
Generally, you should notify your insurance company of your crash within the first few days of the crash, or else they might give you a hard time for failing to report the accident. You also need to report it to the police when it happens if there were any injuries, and insurance companies will often be mad down the road if they find out the report to them was much later than the date listed on the police report.
In any case, filing with your insurance earlier also gives you the chance to get some of your first-party benefits and no-fault insurance coverage, potentially paying for medical care and lost wages in the meantime while we work on the rest of your lawsuit.
Note that your own insurance will not pay for pain and suffering, and you need to either have full tort insurance or serious injuries (or another exception) to allow you to file with the other driver’s insurance or file in court to claim these damages. Our attorneys can guide you through this whole process and help you figure out what claims to make with which insurance companies.
At the end of the day, our goal is often to get the case into court, as the judge and jury have more power to award you higher damages than what the insurance companies might be willing to give you as a matter of course. You should also check with us before accepting any money or signing anything, as it could hurt your options for coverage or act as a settlement that blocks additional damages.
Call Our Car Accident Attorneys in Pennsylvania Today
After a crash, call our Pennsylvania car accident lawyers at Leeson & Leeson as soon as you can by dialing (610) 890-6332.