How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Wisconsin?
What is the Deadline for filing Personal Injury claim in Wisconsin?
If you are injured in Wisconsin, you cannot wait indefinitely before you bring your claim. The state imposes statutes of limitation, or legal limits on the time between when you are injured and when you can file a claim. This protects both you and those responsible for injuries, but it can be tricky to navigate.
Reasons for Statutes of Limitation
One immutable truth about people is that memories fade over time. You may remember an injury well, but given enough time, some of the details start running together. Witnesses and defendants will also forget important information along the way. A statute of limitation helps protect you from losing some of the key facts you need to prove your case.
In addition, it protects someone from being sued years down the road for an injury they may never have even known about. These limits help keep the courts from being tied up with stale cases and help everything develop more efficiently.
Three Years in Most Cases
For most personal injury cases, you have three years from the date of the accident to file a claim. Be careful to distinguish between when you discover the injury and when the accident occurs. If you learn six months after an accident that you have suffered a serious injury, the clock started running when the event occurred.
Exceptions
A key exception comes when the responsible party is actually a governmental entity like a city, county, or township. In those cases, you must give written notice of your claim within 120 days of the accident. After the notice, you may only have six months to file your claim.
If the injury occurs to a minor or someone with a disability, the time limit can be extended to up to one year after the person injured reaches 18 or recovers from the disability. If the person has a mental disability, though, the time period can only extend to five years.
Your personal injury claim cannot wait indefinitely. If you are injured in Wisconsin, Eisenberg Law Offices will give you the attention you need to file on time.