Each state has a statute of limitations which limits the time you can bring a lawsuit arising out of an accident or event that led to a personal injury. In most cases, in North Carolina, you have three years to initiate a lawsuit by filing a complaint with the court.
There are exceptions to the three year rule. For instance, in products liability cases, you have six years to file a lawsuit, per the North Carolina statute of limitations. For medical malpractice, the rule is generally two years, or up to a maximum of four years if you could not have immediately discovered your injury or that the injury arose from a medical provider’s negligence.
For minors, there is a tolling of the statute of limitations period if you are under 18 when the injury occurs. Consulting a north Carolina personal injury attorney is the best way to determine if there is still time to file your personal injury lawsuit.
The reason for statute of limitations is multi-layered, but generally speaking the more time between the event and the filing of the lawsuit, the more difficult it is to establish negligence, track down the individuals involved, and accurately recall the events leading to the injury. Additionally, at some point, all individuals need assurance that a lawsuit will not arise from something in the distant past. The North Carolina statute of limitations assists in establishing some concrete rules around this.
If you have a North Carolina statute of limitations question, please call 704.749.7747 and we will be happy to answer it for you.