The last thing anyone thinks about while in the ER is a court date. There is the shoulder that no longer moves correctly, the car waiting in a tow lot somewhere, the shifts that someone else has to cover. Court comes later, if it comes at all. Which is unfortunate, because the clock that determines whether you can bring a claim starts the moment you are hurt, and doesn’t stop for any of the above.

The short answer to the question posed in the title is three years, for most injury claims in Massachusetts. Whether that’s a long time or a short one is a matter of opinion. Most people, in the course of an injury, waste away a good portion of that window, and some people, often in the case of a fall on a city sidewalk, find out too late that they had thirty days to do something.

The deadline that applies to any given situation is mostly a matter of who caused the injury. A Boston personal injury lawyer can usually pin down the exact date a claim expires in a single conversation, and most offer that first conversation free. The rules below are what that answer is built on.

The Three Year Statute, and Why It Exists

What the Law Actually Says

The default statute of limitations for personal injury in Massachusetts is found in Chapter 260, Section 2A of the General Laws, and it gives you three years from the date the cause of action accrues. Car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, product liability claims, you name it; if a person or business is responsible for an injury, this is almost certainly the statute that applies.

File on the first day of year four and it’s too late. The other driver could have been drunk, texting, and doing eighty, but if it’s past your three year anniversary since the crash, it’s over.

When the Clock Starts Ticking

The day of the injury, almost always. Massachusetts has a discovery rule, meaning that the statute of limitations doesn’t begin to run until you discover the injury and its cause. This is most common with medical malpractice, where a later than expected recovery is the first sign that something went wrong.

That said, there’s no reason to assume that you’ve discovered something that wasn’t readily apparent, and courts are generally hesitant to grant extensions for people who didn’t realize something that they should have known.

What Eats Up Three Years

It’s not as simple as “get hurt, then sue”, for reasons that will become apparent. A functioning legal system requires time to do things like:

• Have doctors assess your condition and prognosis before they can testify
• Collect medical records from all the clinics and hospitals involved
• Investigate the cause of the injury
• Consult with expert witnesses
• Work out a settlement with the insurance company

All of these things take time, and a lawyer who takes on a case too far into the three year window is working with very little time to do them all. Insurers know this, and will take advantage of it.

The Deadlines That Surprise People

Suing a Government Entity

When it comes to suing cities, towns, or the state, the rules change entirely. The Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, Chapter 258 of the General Laws, requires that any claim be presented in writing to the appropriate executive officer within two years of the injury. This is not the claims department, but the specific officer responsible for the issue. For the state, this is the Attorney General. For a city or town, it’s the mayor or city manager.

Failure to contact the correct person or miss the two year window can result in the case being thrown out, even if the injury is significant. Additionally, any recovery is capped at $100,000 per claim, and many people find themselves unable to recover anything at all.

Potholes, Sidewalks, Road Defects

When it comes to these specific issues, the deadline is drastically shorter. You have thirty days from the date of the incident to notify the responsible party of the claim in writing. The damages are also heavily capped, at $5,000 under Chapter 84, Section 15, while state highways carry a $4,000 cap for bodily injury, with no property damage at all allowed.

Thirty days is a very short notice period, and it’s not uncommon for people to miss it, especially if they’re still recovering. If a pothole, a defective or poorly maintained sidewalk, or any other road defect caused or contributed to your injury, this thirty day rule applies to you as well.

Why Courts Are Unmoved by These Arguments

The notice rules for defects are all about giving the responsible party an opportunity to fix the problem before it gets worse. Courts have ruled that this is a precondition to bringing a lawsuit, and not something that can be negotiated later. Sympathy for the injured plaintiff does not factor into this particular decision, and neither does the severity of the injury.

What Your Claim Is Actually Worth

Shared Fault and the 51 Percent Rule

Massachusetts is a modified comparative negligence state under Chapter 231, Section 85, which means that if you’re injured and someone else is at least partially at fault for the injury, you can still recover damages from them so long as your share of the fault is not greater than theirs. Your compensation is then reduced by your share of the fault.

To put this into numbers: if you’re twenty percent at fault on a $100,000 claim, you’d still be entitled to $80,000. If you’re fifty percent at fault, you’d get $50,000. If you’re fifty-one percent at fault, you’d get nothing at all. Entire cases can turn on this distinction, and insurers will do everything they can to push it in their favor.

Recoverable damages fall off a cliff once fault passes fifty percent.

PIP: The First $8,000

No-fault insurance makes up the foundation of car accident claims in Massachusetts. Personal Injury Protection, or PIP, pays up to $8,000 per person injured, regardless of who caused the crash, for things like:

• Reasonable and necessary medical expenses
• 75 percent of lost wages if the injury keeps you out of work
• Replacement services, like childcare or housework, if you can no longer manage them yourself

There is an important exception for people with private health insurance. PIP covers the first $2,000 of medical bills, your health plan takes over from there, and the remaining $6,000 covers any co-pays, deductibles, or other expenses that your health insurance won’t cover. Failing to report the accident to your PIP insurer or refusing a reasonable medical examination can cause you to lose this coverage entirely.

Crossing the $2,000 Threshold

Pain and suffering damages are a separate category, only available once reasonable and necessary medical expenses cross the $2,000 threshold, or if the injury involves death, permanent and serious disfigurement, loss of sight or hearing, or a fractured bone. This can be a strong incentive to continue treatment, or at least to keep records of any physical therapy sessions, as stopping early can leave a claim just short of the threshold. Two people with the same injury can have very different recoveries based on which of these categories they fall into.

What to Do in the First Few Weeks

Evidence Has an Expiry Date

Some evidence in an injury case lasts longer than others. Acting quickly is often the only way to preserve it:

• Surveillance footage, which is often overwritten after a few weeks
• Skid marks and other debris from the scene of the crash
• Witnesses’ memories, which fade and can become contested
• The condition of the car, once repairs are completed
• The condition of the stairs, sidewalk, or other surface before repairs are made

Mistakes That Cost Real Money

Evidence gaps are often used by insurers to argue that an injury isn’t as serious as it is. Recorded statements made before a full understanding of the injury can come back to haunt the injured person at the worst possible time. Claims adjusters can and do check social media for posts that suggest a lack of injury, and a happy vacation photo can be used as evidence against the injured person.

Why Identifying the Correct Deadline Early Matters

Waiting too long can hurt an injured person’s options in a couple of ways. Even if a lawsuit isn’t being considered, understanding the statute of limitations is crucial to preserving evidence and records, and making sure that the correct procedures are followed. For most people, the most important thing they can do in the early days of an injury is to determine what statute applies to their case, and then make sure they don’t miss the deadline. Once that date has passed, the quality of the evidence doesn’t matter as much, because there is no case to bring.

Check Your Deadline Before Anything Else

Every rule mentioned in this article comes with its own deadline. Three years for most personal injury claims, two for government entities, thirty days for road defects, and so on. Massachusetts law protects injured people, but only for those who act while it’s still possible.

This isn’t to say that every injury claim should become a lawsuit. Most claims of this nature are resolved through insurance and don’t require one. The reason for this article is much more specific: no matter what you decide to do, make sure you know your deadline before you do anything else, because it won’t wait for you. The clock started the moment you were injured. Find out how much time you have left.