Personal injury laws exist to protect people hurt by negligent acts. But it does not allow those people to wait an inordinate amount of time before filing legal action. Every state maintains its own statutes of limitations that define how long an injury victim has to file a lawsuit in the wake of an accident. If you or someone you love is considering or planning to file any lawsuit, you must find out the timeframes that apply to your case.
Maryland has various statutes of limitations
Maryland employs some relatively standard statutes of limitations for various types of civil cases.
- For most personal injury cases, you have three years from the time of the injury to bring suit.
- For libel, slander and defamation cases, you have one year.
- For product liability cases, you have three years.
- For cases of alleged fraud, you have three years.
In most cases, a statute of limitations starts running when the injury is suffered. But sometimes you do not know you have been harmed until after the fact. In that circumstance, the discovery rule lets you file a suit within a certain period of time after the injury is or should have been discovered. An experienced attorney can help you determine if the discovery rule applies to your case.
Delaying can only hurt you
If you even suspect you might want to file a personal lawsuit in the wake of an accident, injury or other incident, speak to an attorney today.
