Truck Accident Filing Deadline Calculator
Two clocks started the minute that truck hit you, not one: the legal deadline to file, which is usually years away, and the evidence deadline, which is usually weeks. Put in five details below and you'll see both.
Clock 1 — Legal deadline
Usually 1–6 yearsThe last day a court will accept your lawsuit. Set by the state where the crash happened.
Clock 2 — Evidence deadline
Often 30 days to 6 monthsThe day the proof that would win the case can be legally destroyed. Nobody mails you a reminder.
Why the evidence deadline is shorter than you think
Hardly anybody tells accident victims this part.
A trucking company doesn't have to keep the proof of what happened for as long as you have to sue it. Federal rules set the minimum, and the minimums are short.
Take the driver's logs, the record of whether they'd been driving too many hours. They only have to be kept for six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)). After that the company can destroy them without breaking any rule.
The engine's black box records speed, braking and throttle in the seconds before impact. No federal rule says anyone has to keep it. It gets written over as the truck keeps rolling, and it's routinely lost when the tractor is repaired, sold or put back under a load.
Dash cam and telematics video has the shortest life of all. Most fleet camera systems record over themselves on a rolling cycle, often 30 days or less. There's no federal requirement to keep any of it.
What stops the clock is a preservation letter (also called a spoliation letter or a litigation hold) sent to the carrier, telling it in writing to keep specific evidence. Once it arrives, destroying that evidence carries real consequences.
Before it arrives, tossing records at the end of a retention window is just routine records management. That's the whole reason this is a matter of weeks, not years.
For what these records contain and how they get used, see our FMCSA regulations and evidence page.
What to do in the next 7 days
Roughly in order of which window slams shut first.
- Get a preservation letter sent to the carrier. This is the most time-critical step, and the one most victims never hear about. It has to name the specific records (ECM data, driver logs, dash cam footage, maintenance history) and it should go out before any retention window closes.
- Do not let the truck be repaired or released. The tractor and trailer are physical evidence. Once they're repaired, resold or back in service, the black box data and the damage pattern are usually gone for good.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the carrier's insurer. They'll call fast and they'll be friendly. You don't have to give a recorded statement to the other side's insurance company, and what you say while hurt and on pain meds will be used to argue you were partly at fault.
- Photograph everything, including your injuries. The scene, the vehicles, the road, skid marks, and your visible injuries as they change over the next several days. Date-stamped photos of healing are hard to argue with later.
- Request the police crash report. It identifies the carrier, the driver, the DOT number and the insurer. Every later step depends on that information.
- Write down what you remember, today. Not for anyone else. For you. Memory of a traumatic event fades fast, and notes made now are worth far more than a story pieced together six months later.
- Keep every medical record and bill. Gaps in treatment are the most common argument used to shrink a truck accident claim.
There's a longer version of this list in our what to do after a truck accident guide.
Truck accident filing deadlines by state
General figures for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each one has its own page with the statute citation, the tolling rule and the government notice period.
| State | Injury deadline | Wrongful death | Government notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2 years | 2 years | 6 months (municipalities) |
| Alaska | 2 years | 2 years | As short as 120 days |
| Arizona | 2 years | 2 years | 180 days |
| Arkansas | 3 years | 3 years | Separate claims procedure |
| California | 2 years | 2 years | 6 months |
| Colorado | 3 years (motor vehicle) | 2 years | 182 days |
| Connecticut | 2 years | 2 years | 90 days (highway defect) |
| Delaware | 2 years | 2 years | 1 year |
| Florida | 2 years | 2 years | 3 years to present the claim |
| Georgia | 2 years | 2 years | 6 months (municipalities) |
| Hawaii | 2 years | 2 years | 6 months (counties) |
| Idaho | 2 years | 2 years | 180 days |
| Illinois | 2 years | 2 years | 1 year |
| Indiana | 2 years | 2 years | 180 days |
| Iowa | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years |
| Kansas | 2 years | 2 years | Separate claims procedure |
| Kentucky | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year (Board of Claims) |
| Louisiana | 2 years | 2 years | Separate claims procedure |
| Maine | 6 years | 3 years | 180 days |
| Maryland | 3 years | 3 years | 1 year |
| Massachusetts | 3 years | 3 years | 2 years (presentment) |
| Michigan | 3 years | 3 years | 120 days (highway defect) |
| Minnesota | 6 years | 3 years | 180 days |
| Mississippi | 3 years | 3 years | 90 days |
| Missouri | 5 years | 3 years | 90 days (cities) |
| Montana | 3 years | 3 years | Separate claims procedure |
| Nebraska | 4 years | 2 years | 1 year |
| Nevada | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years |
| New Hampshire | 3 years | 3 years | 180 days |
| New Jersey | 2 years | 2 years | 90 days |
| New Mexico | 3 years | 3 years | 90 days |
| New York | 3 years | 2 years | 90 days (Court of Claims) |
| North Carolina | 3 years | 2 years | 3 years (Industrial Commission) |
| North Dakota | 6 years | 2 years | 180 days |
| Ohio | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years (Court of Claims) |
| Oklahoma | 2 years | 2 years | 1 year |
| Oregon | 2 years | 3 years | 180 days |
| Pennsylvania | 2 years | 2 years | 6 months |
| Rhode Island | 3 years | 3 years | 60 days (highway defect) |
| South Carolina | 3 years | 3 years | 2 years (3 with a verified claim) |
| South Dakota | 3 years | 3 years | 180 days |
| Tennessee | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year (Claims Commission) |
| Texas | 2 years | 2 years | Often 90 days or less by city charter |
| Utah | 4 years | 2 years | 1 year |
| Vermont | 3 years | 2 years | Separate claims procedure |
| Virginia | 2 years | 2 years | 6 months (cities and towns) |
| Washington | 3 years | 3 years | Separate claims procedure |
| Washington, D.C. | 3 years | 2 years | 6 months |
| West Virginia | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years |
| Wisconsin | 3 years | 3 years | 120 days |
| Wyoming | 4 years | 2 years | 2 years |
See also the general truck accident statute of limitations overview and wrongful death claims.
Filing deadline questions, answered directly
How long do I have to file a truck accident claim?
In most states the deadline to file a truck accident lawsuit is two to three years from the date of the crash, though it ranges from one year in Kentucky and Tennessee to six years in Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota. If a government vehicle or entity was involved, a separate notice deadline applies and it is usually measured in months, not years — commonly 90 to 180 days.
What is the difference between the filing deadline and the evidence deadline?
The filing deadline is the last day a court will accept your lawsuit. The evidence deadline is the day the proof that would win it can be destroyed legally. They aren't the same, and they aren't close. Federal rules require a motor carrier to keep a driver's records of duty status for only six months, and dashcam footage is typically overwritten within 30 days. Someone in a three-year state can be nearly three years from their legal deadline and three weeks from losing the evidence.
Why do truckers' logs only have to be kept for six months?
Federal regulation 49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1) requires a motor carrier to retain records of duty status and their supporting documents for six months. After that period the carrier may lawfully destroy them. Those logs are what show whether the driver had exceeded hours-of-service limits, which is one of the most common grounds for liability in a large truck crash.
What happens if I miss the deadline to file a truck accident lawsuit?
A court will generally dismiss a case filed after the deadline, no matter how strong the evidence. But a deadline that looks like it has passed isn't automatically the end. Tolling doctrines, the discovery rule, the claimant's age or incapacity, and a defendant's absence from the state can all change the calculation. Never assume a claim is dead without speaking to an attorney licensed in the state where the crash happened.
Is the deadline different if someone died in the crash?
Usually yes. Wrongful death runs on its own clock, and in most states it is measured from the date of death rather than the date of the crash. The period is often shorter than the personal injury period — North Dakota allows six years for injury but only two for wrongful death, and Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming all cut the period in half for a death claim. Oregon is unusual in measuring from the date of the injury rather than the death.
What if the truck belonged to a city, a school district, or a state agency?
A claim against a government entity almost always requires a formal written notice before any lawsuit, and that notice window is dramatically shorter than the ordinary deadline — 90 days in New Jersey, New York, Mississippi and New Mexico, 180 days in Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota and Oregon, six months in California, Texas and Washington, D.C. Missing it usually bars the claim entirely regardless of how much time is left on the ordinary clock. If you are not sure whether a government vehicle was involved, treat the shorter deadline as the one that applies until someone confirms otherwise.
Does the deadline change if the injured person is a child?
In most states the clock is paused, or tolled, while the injured person is a minor, and generally does not begin until their 18th birthday. Several states are exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska set the age of majority at 19, and Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina and Wisconsin give only a limited period after majority rather than a fresh full one. And here is the catch: tolling does not pause the evidence clock at all, and in many states it does not pause a government notice deadline either.
What is a spoliation letter and why does it matter so soon?
A spoliation letter, also called a litigation hold or preservation letter, is a formal written demand to the motor carrier telling them to preserve specific evidence — the ECM data, the driver's logs, dashcam footage, maintenance records and the vehicle itself. Once served, destroying that evidence can carry serious consequences at trial. Before it's served, a carrier destroying records at the end of a federal retention period is doing nothing wrong. That's why the letter has to go out fast.
Not sure which deadline applies to you?
Most people aren't. A free case review takes about a minute, it's confidential, and it tells you which clock is actually running in your situation, including whether a preservation letter needs to go out this week.
Get a free case review