Español (888) 555-0142

Truck accident filing deadlines

You probably have years to file — and weeks before the evidence is gone.

Every other site shows you one deadline. There are two, and the one nobody mentions is the one that runs out first. Answer five questions and see both.

These deadline figures have not yet been verified by an attorney. 51 of 51 jurisdictions are pending review against the statute each one cites. Use this tool to understand how the two clocks work — not as a final answer on your own dates. Confirm anything you rely on with a licensed attorney.

How much time do I actually have?

Five questions. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

If you are not certain of the exact day, use your best estimate.

This runs entirely on your phone. Your answers are never transmitted, stored, or seen by anyone — including us — unless you choose to send them at the end.

The part nobody tells you

Why the evidence deadline is so much shorter than the legal one

You may well have two or three years to file a truck accident lawsuit. That is the number every website quotes. It is also the number that gets people hurt, because it creates the impression there is no rush.

There is. The proof runs out long before the deadline does.

Federal rules require a trucking company to keep a driver’s hours-of-service records for six months. After that, the company is entitled to destroy them — and those records are usually how a case involving a tired driver gets proved at all. The engine control module, the “black box” that recorded speed and braking in the seconds before impact, has no retention requirement whatsoever. It gets overwritten as the truck keeps driving, or disappears when the tractor is repaired, sold, or simply put back on the road. Dashcam and fleet camera footage typically recycles on a 30-day loop or shorter.

None of that is misconduct. It is ordinary business record-keeping, and it is entirely lawful — right up until someone puts the company on formal notice to preserve it. That notice is called a preservation letter, or a litigation hold, and it is the single most time-sensitive thing in a truck case.

So a person in a three-year state can be sitting two years and eleven months away from their legal deadline and three weeks away from losing the evidence that would have won the case. Both clocks are real. Only one of them is on your side.

Next seven days

What to do now, in order

  1. Ask a lawyer to send a preservation letterThis is the urgent one. It legally obliges the trucking company to stop deleting logs, black box data and camera footage. Most firms will send one the same day, and it costs you nothing.
  2. Do not give the insurer a recorded statementThe carrier's insurance company will often call within days, sometimes within hours, and will ask to record you. You are not required to agree, and what you say while injured and medicated can be used to reduce or deny your claim.
  3. Get the police report and the reporting officer's nameRequest it from the investigating agency. Note the report number. For a commercial truck there may also be a separate state or federal inspection report.
  4. Photograph everything, including yourselfThe vehicles, the scene, the road, and your injuries as they change over the following days. Bruising often looks worse a week later than it did on day one.
  5. Keep every medical record and billIncluding the ambulance, the emergency room, prescriptions, physiotherapy and any time you had to take off work.
  6. Write down what you remember, todayWeather, traffic, what the truck did, what you heard, who stopped to help. Memory for detail fades fast and a contemporaneous note carries real weight later.

Every state

Filing deadlines by state

Personal injury and wrongful death periods, plus the shortest government notice deadline that could apply. Tap a state for its full rules.

StateInjury DeathGov. notice
Alabama2 yr2 yr180 days
Alaska2 yr2 yr180 days
Arizona2 yr2 yr180 days
Arkansas3 yr3 yrVaries
California2 yr2 yr180 days
Colorado3 yr2 yr182 days
Connecticut2 yr2 yr365 days
Delaware2 yr2 yr365 days
District of Columbia3 yr2 yr180 days
Florida2 yr2 yr1095 days
Georgia2 yr2 yr180 days
Hawaii2 yr2 yr730 days
Idaho2 yr2 yr180 days
Illinois2 yr2 yr365 days
Indiana2 yr2 yr180 days
Iowa2 yr2 yr60 days
Kansas2 yr2 yr120 days
Kentucky1 yr1 yr365 days
Louisiana2 yr2 yrVaries
Maine6 yr2 yr180 days
Maryland3 yr3 yr180 days
Massachusetts3 yr3 yr730 days
Michigan3 yr3 yr120 days
Minnesota6 yr3 yr180 days
Mississippi3 yr3 yr365 days
Missouri5 yr3 yr90 days
Montana3 yr3 yr365 days
Nebraska4 yr2 yr365 days
Nevada2 yr2 yr730 days
New Hampshire3 yr3 yr180 days
New Jersey2 yr2 yr90 days
New Mexico3 yr3 yr90 days
New York3 yr2 yr90 days
North Carolina3 yr2 yrVaries
North Dakota6 yr2 yr180 days
Ohio2 yr2 yr730 days
Oklahoma2 yr2 yr365 days
Oregon2 yr3 yr180 days
Pennsylvania2 yr2 yr180 days
Rhode Island3 yr3 yrVaries
South Carolina3 yr3 yr730 days
South Dakota3 yr3 yr180 days
Tennessee1 yr1 yr365 days
Texas2 yr2 yr180 days
Utah4 yr2 yr365 days
Vermont3 yr2 yrVaries
Virginia2 yr2 yr180 days
Washington3 yr3 yr60 days
West Virginia2 yr2 yr30 days
Wisconsin3 yr3 yr120 days
Wyoming4 yr2 yr730 days

Periods shown are the general rule. Individual facts — who the defendant is, when the injury was discovered, the claimant’s age — routinely change them.

FAQ

Questions people ask about truck accident deadlines

How long do I have to file a truck accident lawsuit?
In most states, two to three years from the date of the crash — but the range runs from one year to six depending on where it happened, and a claim involving a government vehicle can require written notice in as little as 60 days. The calculator on this page gives you the period for your state.
Is the deadline different if someone died?
Usually yes. A wrongful death claim runs on its own clock, and in many states that clock starts on the date of death rather than the date of the crash. Where a person is badly injured and dies weeks or months later, those are two different dates and the difference matters.
What happens if a city or state truck was involved?
A separate and much shorter deadline applies. Claims against government bodies generally require formal written notice long before any lawsuit — commonly 60 to 180 days. Missing that notice usually ends the claim no matter how much time is left on the ordinary filing deadline.
Why does the evidence deadline matter more than the filing deadline?
Because the filing deadline is usually years away and the evidence deadline is usually weeks. Federal rules let a trucking company destroy driver logs after six months, and nothing at all requires it to preserve black box data or camera footage. Once that material is gone, the filing deadline is not much use to you.
What is a preservation letter?
A formal notice from a lawyer telling the trucking company to stop destroying evidence — logs, engine data, footage, the vehicle itself. Before it is sent, routine deletion is lawful. After it is sent, destroying that material carries real consequences. It is the most time-sensitive step in a truck case.
The injured person was a child. Does that change the deadline?
In most states, yes. The filing clock generally does not start until the child turns 18, which can push the legal deadline years into the future. The evidence deadline is not paused by anything, and it is still running today.
I think my deadline has already passed. Is it over?
Not necessarily, and please do not assume it is. Deadlines can be paused or extended for a number of reasons — the claimant’s age, when the injury was actually discovered, who the defendant turns out to be, and other doctrines that depend on facts this page does not ask about. A lawyer can tell you in one conversation. A calculator cannot.
Does this tool send my information anywhere?
No. Every calculation happens in your browser. Nothing you enter is transmitted, stored or seen by anyone unless you choose to submit the contact form yourself.

Have someone check your actual dates

A calculator works from five answers. A lawyer works from the police report, the carrier's records and the facts of what happened to you — and can send the preservation letter today. The review is free and costs you nothing.

Call (888) 555-0142 Send my details

Free · confidential · no obligation. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.

# ============================================================================== # FLOATING CONVERSION WIDGETS # ==============================================================================
Call now See if you qualify