Indiana Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims

Under IC 34-11-2-4, you have two years from the date of your injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in Indiana. This applies to car accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, and most other types of personal injury claims. Indiana's 2-year deadline is shorter than many neighboring states — Ohio and Wisconsin both allow 3 years, and Kentucky allows 1 year — so Indiana residents cannot afford to assume they have more time than they do.

The two-year clock starts on the date the injury occurs — not the date you hire a lawyer, not the date you finish medical treatment, and not the date you realize how serious your injuries are (unless the discovery rule applies). Once the deadline passes, the defendant can ask the court to dismiss your case, and the court will grant that request.

Two years may sound like plenty of time, but building a strong personal injury case requires gathering evidence, obtaining medical records, consulting experts, and negotiating with insurance companies. Attorneys who handle Indiana injury claims recommend starting the process within weeks of the accident, not months or years later.

When a personal injury causes death, surviving family members can file a wrongful death lawsuit under IC 34-23-1-1. The deadline is 2 years from the date of death. The personal representative of the deceased person's estate must file the lawsuit on behalf of the surviving dependents.

If no estate has been opened, a family member must petition the probate court to appoint a personal representative before the wrongful death lawsuit can be filed. This probate process takes time — often 30 to 60 days or more — which eats into the 2-year window. Families who lose a loved one in a fatal car accident, workplace incident, or medical malpractice case should consult an attorney immediately to ensure the estate is opened and the claim is preserved.

Damages in Indiana wrongful death cases can include medical expenses incurred before death, funeral and burial costs, lost earnings and future income the deceased would have provided, and loss of love and companionship. Under IC 34-23-1-2, these damages are distributed to the surviving spouse, dependent children, or dependent next of kin.

If your injury was caused by an Indiana government entity — a city, county, state agency, school district, or government employee acting in their official capacity — you face a much shorter initial deadline. Under the Indiana Tort Claims Act (IC 34-13-3), you must file a written tort claim notice within 180 days of the incident for claims against political subdivisions (cities, counties, school districts) or within 270 days for claims against the State of Indiana or state agencies (IC 34-13-3-6(a)). The notice must be hand-delivered or sent by registered or certified mail.

The tort claim notice must describe the circumstances of the claim, the extent of the loss, the time and place of the loss, the names of all persons involved, and the amount of damages sought. For Indianapolis claims, the notice is served on the City of Indianapolis Office of Corporation Counsel. For state agency claims, the notice is served on the Indiana Attorney General. After receiving the notice, the government has 90 days to approve or deny the claim — silence is treated as a denial. Failure to file this notice within the deadline will bar your claim regardless of the 2-year statute of limitations.

Indiana caps damages against government entities. Under IC 34-13-3-4, the maximum liability is $700,000 per person and $5,000,000 per occurrence. Punitive damages are prohibited against government entities and their employees acting within the scope of employment. An additional critical difference: claims against government entities in Indiana are subject to contributory negligence rather than comparative fault. This means that even 1% of fault on your part can bar all recovery against the government — a much harsher standard than the 51% bar that applies to private-party claims. These rules make government injury claims significantly more complex, and an attorney experienced in Indiana tort claims is essential.

Under IC 34-11-6-1, the statute of limitations is tolled (paused) for individuals who are under a legal disability at the time the cause of action accrues. In Indiana, legal disability includes being a minor (under age 18) or being mentally incompetent.

For minors, the 2-year statute of limitations does not begin to run until the child turns 18. This means a minor injured in an accident has until their 20th birthday to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, a parent or legal guardian can file on the child's behalf at any time before then, and there are practical reasons to do so — evidence deteriorates, witnesses become harder to locate, and memories fade.

For individuals who are mentally incompetent at the time of injury, the statute is similarly tolled until the disability is removed. If the person regains competence, the normal 2-year limitation period begins running at that point. The tolling adds up to 2 years onto whatever time remains, but cannot extend the deadline by more than 2 years beyond the removal of the disability.

Indiana recognizes the discovery rule, which can extend the statute of limitations in cases where the injury was not immediately known or discoverable. Under this rule, the 2-year clock does not start on the date of the incident but on the date the injured person discovers — or, exercising reasonable diligence, should have discovered — the injury and its cause.

The discovery rule most commonly applies in medical malpractice cases, where a surgical error or misdiagnosis may not become apparent for months or years. It can also apply in toxic exposure cases, product liability claims, and other situations where harm develops gradually. However, Indiana imposes a hard outer limit: for medical malpractice, the claim must be filed within 2 years of the act, omission, or neglect — the discovery rule cannot extend the deadline beyond this point (IC 34-18-7-1).

The discovery rule does not give you unlimited time. You must still file within 2 years of the date you knew or should have known about the injury. Courts will examine whether a reasonable person in your situation would have discovered the injury sooner, and the burden of proving that delayed discovery was reasonable falls on the injured party.

If you file a personal injury lawsuit after the statute of limitations has expired, the defendant will raise it as a defense. Indiana courts treat the statute of limitations as a strict bar — there is no grace period, no good-cause exception for most cases, and no judicial discretion to extend it simply because the claim has merit.

Missing the deadline means you lose the ability to file a lawsuit. Without the leverage of a potential lawsuit, insurance companies have no incentive to negotiate a fair settlement. In practice, missing the statute of limitations means losing your claim entirely — you receive nothing, regardless of how serious your injuries are or how clearly the other party was at fault.

This is why personal injury attorneys in Indiana strongly recommend consulting a lawyer as soon as possible after an injury. Even if you are unsure whether you have a case, a brief consultation can clarify your deadlines and protect your right to file. Most personal injury attorneys offer free initial consultations and work on contingency, so there is no upfront cost.

Indiana follows a modified comparative fault system under IC 34-51-2-6. You can recover damages as long as your percentage of fault is less than 51%. If you are 51% or more at fault for the accident, you recover nothing. If your fault is 50% or less, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault — so if you are 20% at fault and your damages are $100,000, you recover $80,000.

The fault determination in your case — based on the police report, witness statements, medical evidence, and expert analysis — heavily influences the settlement value. Insurance companies will aggressively argue that you share fault in order to reduce or eliminate their liability. Building a strong evidence-based case that demonstrates the other party's fault is critical, and evidence collection should begin immediately after the injury.

The comparative fault rule makes the statute of limitations even more important. The longer you wait to investigate and preserve evidence, the harder it becomes to establish the other party's fault. Witnesses move away, surveillance footage gets deleted, physical evidence deteriorates, and memories fade. Starting early gives you the best chance of a strong claim.

While the 2-year general rule covers most personal injury claims, certain types of cases have their own rules in Indiana. Medical malpractice claims must be filed within 2 years of the act, omission, or neglect (IC 34-18-7-1). Before filing in court, you must submit a proposed complaint to the Indiana Department of Insurance, which convenes a mandatory medical review panel (IC 34-18-8-4). Filing the proposed complaint tolls the statute of limitations for 90 days after the panel issues its opinion (IC 34-18-7-3). Indiana also caps medical malpractice damages at $1,800,000 total — the healthcare provider is liable for the first $500,000, and the Indiana Patient's Compensation Fund covers the remainder. For minors under age 6, the deadline extends to the child's 8th birthday. Product liability claims follow the 2-year rule but are subject to a 10-year statute of repose from the date the product was delivered to the initial user or consumer (IC 34-20-3-1) — and the repose period is not tolled for minors.

For property damage claims (as opposed to personal injury), Indiana has a 6-year statute of limitations (IC 34-11-2-7). Workers' compensation claims follow their own separate timeline and procedures under the Indiana Workers' Compensation Act. If your injury involves multiple legal theories or defendants, different deadlines may apply to different parts of your case — another reason to get legal advice early.

Not sure if your claim is still within the deadline? Get your free Injury Claim Check. You will answer a few quick questions about your accident and injuries, and we will give you a personalized report that includes Indiana's filing deadline for your specific claim, your legal options based on the circumstances of your case, and whether connecting with an Indianapolis personal injury attorney makes sense for your situation.

The statute of limitations is unforgiving — once it expires, your claim is gone. Our Injury Claim Check gives you clear, actionable information about your deadline and what to do next. Free, confidential, and takes less time than a phone call to a law office.