Michigan Personal Injury Deadlines: Every Statute of Limitations in One Place

If you were hurt in Michigan, a legal clock started the day it happened. For most injury lawsuits, including a claim against the driver who hit you or the owner of the property where you fell, you have three years from the date of the injury to file (MCL 600.5805(2)).

Many Michigan claims run on much shorter clocks, though. To protect your no-fault benefits, your own auto insurer generally needs written notice within one year. Medical malpractice usually allows two years, and a 182-day notice has to come first. A government agency must hear from you within 120 days about a dangerous road or sidewalk, and an injury claim against the State of Michigan needs a written claim or notice filed within six months.

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What is a statute of limitations, and what happens if I miss it?

A statute of limitations is a law that sets the last day you can file a lawsuit. Michigan’s rule is blunt: an injury lawsuit can’t be brought or kept going unless it was filed within the time the law allows (MCL 600.5805(1)). File late, and the other side can ask the judge to dismiss the case on that ground alone, however strong it is (MCR 2.116(C)(7)).

Some claims also have a notice deadline: a short window to notify someone, usually in writing, before you can sue or collect. That someone might be your auto insurer, your employer, a government agency or a doctor. Notice deadlines are often much shorter than the deadline to sue, and missing one can end a claim just as surely.

Michigan injury deadlines at a glance

Current as of September 2026. Where a row lists two deadlines, such as a notice and a lawsuit, you must meet both.

Most serious injuries fit more than one row. A crash while driving for work can involve a no-fault claim, a workers’ compensation claim and a lawsuit against the other driver, each with its own clock. Act first on the shortest deadline.

When does the clock start?

Usually on the day you were hurt. A Michigan claim accrues (the clock starts) “at the time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done regardless of the time when damage results” (MCL 600.5827). An injury that turns out worse than you thought doesn’t restart the clock.

A broader discovery rule would start the clock when you learn you were hurt. Michigan doesn’t have one: in Trentadue v Buckler Automatic Lawn Sprinkler Co (2007), the Michigan Supreme Court held that MCL 600.5827 rules it out. Discovery counts only where a statute says so:

• Medical malpractice: six months after you discovered, or should have discovered, the claim (MCL 600.5838a).
• Fraudulent concealment: if the person responsible hid the claim or their identity, two years after you discovered, or should have discovered, it (MCL 600.5855).
• Criminal sexual conduct against a minor: three years after the survivor discovers, or should have discovered, the injury and its link to the abuse (MCL 600.5851b).

How long do I have after a Michigan car accident?

Most crash victims have two claims with separate clocks: no-fault benefits from their own insurer, and sometimes a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. Our guide to Michigan car accident claims walks through both.

No-fault (PIP) benefits: one year

PIP (personal protection insurance) pays for medical care, part of your lost income and some help at home, no matter who caused the crash (MCL 500.3105(2), 500.3107(1)). It usually comes from your own policy or one in your household (MCL 500.3114(1)); see what PIP pays after the 2019 reform. The deadlines, all in MCL 500.3145:

• Notice within one year. Give your insurer written notice of the injury within one year of the crash, unless it has already paid PIP benefits for it. Include the claimant’s name and address and, in plain words, the injured person’s name and the time, place and nature of the injury.
• Lawsuit within one year of the latest loss. After notice or a payment, you can sue over unpaid benefits within one year after the most recent expense or loss.
• The one-year-back rule. A lawsuit generally can’t recover losses incurred more than one year before it was filed.
• A pause while a claim is pending. The deadline to sue and the one-year-back limit both stop running from a specific claim for payment until the insurer formally denies it, if you pursue the claim with reasonable diligence. The pause doesn’t extend the one-year notice deadline.

If your insurer has stopped paying, waiting can cost you bills you can never recover; see what to do when a Michigan PIP claim is denied or cut off. If no policy applies to you, you may be able to claim through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan; notify the Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility within one year of the accident (MCL 500.3174).

Suing the at-fault driver: three years

A lawsuit against the driver who caused the crash has the ordinary three-year deadline (MCL 600.5805(2)). You can recover pain and suffering only if the crash caused death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)); how that threshold works has its own guide. The same lawsuit can claim medical costs and lost income above your PIP limits (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)). For your first steps after a crash, see our car accident guide.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims: check your policy

Uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage is part of your insurance contract, so the policy usually sets the deadline. The Michigan Supreme Court enforces a clear policy deadline as written, including one requiring a claim or lawsuit within one year of the accident (Rory v Continental Insurance Co, 2005). Check your policy now.

Was a drunk driver involved? Check the dram shop deadline

Michigan’s dram shop law lets you sue a licensed bar, restaurant or store that unlawfully sold or served alcohol to a minor or a visibly intoxicated person who then hurt you (MCL 436.1801). The lawsuit is due within two years of the injury or death, and every defendant must get written notice within 120 days after you hire a lawyer for the claim, unless you couldn’t reasonably have known in that time that the business might be liable (MCL 436.1801(3)). The minor or intoxicated person must also be named as a defendant and kept in the case until it ends (MCL 436.1801(4)).

What are the deadlines for medical malpractice?

Malpractice claims against doctors, nurses, hospitals and other licensed health providers run on a shorter clock than most injuries. For how these cases work, see our guide to medical malpractice claims.

Two years, or six months from discovery

The clock starts on the date of the act or omission (the mistake itself), no matter when you learned of it (MCL 600.5838a(1)). You have two years from that date (MCL 600.5805(8)) or six months after you discovered, or should have discovered, the claim, whichever is later (MCL 600.5838a(2)). To use the six-month rule, you must prove you didn’t discover the claim, and shouldn’t have, until the last six months before the two-year deadline or later.

The six-year outer limit. Even with the discovery rule, a malpractice suit generally can’t be filed more than six years after the act or omission. The cap doesn’t apply if the provider’s fraud hid the claim, or if the malpractice caused the permanent loss of, or damage to, a reproductive organ that left you unable to have children (MCL 600.5838a(2), (3)). Children’s claims have their own rules (below).

A 182-day notice of intent comes first

You generally must mail each health professional or facility a written notice of intent to file a claim at least 182 days before suing (MCL 600.2912b(1), (2)). Among other things, it must spell out the facts, the standard of care, how it was breached and how that caused the injury (MCL 600.2912b(4)), and the provider has 154 days to respond in writing (MCL 600.2912b(7)). If no response arrives in that time, you can sue once the 154 days end (MCL 600.2912b(8)).

If your deadline would expire during the notice period, a proper notice pauses the clock for up to the number of days left in that period (MCL 600.5856(c)), but only if it goes out before the deadline passes. Preparing it takes records and time, so start many months before the two-year date.

Is it malpractice or ordinary negligence?

Not every injury in a hospital or nursing home is malpractice. The Michigan Supreme Court asks whether the claim arose in a professional relationship and whether it raises questions of medical judgment beyond common knowledge and experience. If both answers are yes, the malpractice rules apply (Bryant v Oakpointe Villa Nursing Centre, 2004). Until a lawyer tells you otherwise, treat the shorter malpractice timeline as the one to beat.

How long does a family have to file a wrongful death claim?

A wrongful death lawsuit is filed by the estate’s personal representative, the person the probate court appoints to handle the estate (MCL 600.2922(2)). The appointment papers are called letters of authority. The basic deadline is the one the person who died would have had: three years for most injury claims, or two if malpractice caused the death (MCL 600.5805(2), (8)).

The wrongful death saving provision can add time. If the person died before that deadline ran out, or within 30 days after, the personal representative can sue within two years after letters of authority are issued, but no later than three years after the original deadline (MCL 600.5852(1), (4)). In a malpractice case, the two years run from the first personal representative’s letters (MCL 600.5852(2)).

In a 2026 case, a man died in July 2020, the day after an emergency room visit, so his two-year malpractice deadline ran out in July 2022. His estate’s representative had received letters in June 2021, giving the estate until June 2023, plus the pause that comes with a notice of intent. The Michigan Supreme Court held that the pause applies to the estate’s extra time, overruling Waltz v Wyse (2004), and ruled the August 2023 lawsuit timely (Ernest v Brown, July 2026).

Don’t plan around the extension: open the estate early and ask a lawyer about the original deadline. Our guide to wrongful death claims covers the rest of the process.

Not sure which of these deadlines applies to you? Get a free case review. Answer four quick questions and we'll connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours.

What if the injured person is a child or can’t manage their own affairs?

Children

For most claims, if you were under 18 when the claim arose, you have until one year after your 18th birthday to sue, even if the regular deadline has passed; if the regular deadline ends later, you keep it (MCL 600.5851(1)). A child doesn’t have to wait: a conservator, or a court-appointed “next friend” such as a parent, can bring the claim now (MCR 2.201(E)). Some rules give children little or no extra time:

• Malpractice. If the child was under 8 when it happened, the claim is due by the 10th birthday or within the regular malpractice period, whichever is later. For a reproductive-system injury to a child under 13, the cutoff is the 15th birthday or the regular period, whichever is later. Older children follow the regular rules (MCL 600.5851(7), (8)).
• Government notices. A child hurt by a defective road or sidewalk has 180 days instead of 120, and a parent can give the notice (MCL 691.1404(3)).
• No-fault benefits. The Michigan Supreme Court has held that the extra time for minors doesn’t lift the rule limiting a PIP lawsuit to losses from the year before it was filed (Joseph v Auto Club Insurance Association, 2012).

Adults who can’t understand their rights

The same one-year extension, counted from when the condition ends, applies to someone who, when the claim arose, had a mental condition that kept them from understanding their legal rights. The statute calls this being “insane,” and no court ruling is needed (MCL 600.5851(1), (2)). A condition that starts after the claim arises doesn’t count (MCL 600.5851(3)).

What are the deadlines for assault and sexual abuse claims?

Civil lawsuits over intentional harm have their own periods in MCL 600.5805:

• Assault, battery or false imprisonment: 2 years (MCL 600.5805(3)).
• Assault or battery by a spouse or former spouse, a co-parent, someone you live or lived with, or a dating partner: 5 years (MCL 600.5805(4), (5)). A dating relationship means frequent, intimate association with an expectation of affection, not a casual one (MCL 600.5805(16)(c)).
• Criminal sexual conduct: 10 years (MCL 600.5805(6)).
• Criminal sexual conduct against a minor: until the survivor’s 28th birthday, or three years after they discover, or should have discovered, both the injury and its link to the abuse, whichever is later (MCL 600.5851b(1)).

You don’t need a criminal charge or a conviction to bring a claim for criminal sexual conduct (MCL 600.5805(6), 600.5851b(2)).

Senate Bill 257 of 2025 would lengthen the deadline for abuse suffered as a minor and add a grace period for older claims. It passed the Senate in May 2025 but, as of September 2026, was still in a House committee, so it is not law. For more, see our guide to sexual abuse lawsuits.

What if a government agency is responsible?

Michigan government agencies are immune from most injury claims arising from their government functions (MCL 691.1407(1)), with exceptions that include poorly maintained highways, dangerous public buildings and carelessly driven government vehicles (MCL 691.1402, 691.1405, 691.1406). Road and building claims carry some of Michigan’s shortest deadlines. Most other claims against local governments, such as a crash with a government vehicle, follow the ordinary deadlines (MCL 691.1411(1)). A fall on private property follows the normal three-year rule; see how slip and fall claims work.

Roads, bridges and sidewalks: notice within 120 days

• Within 120 days of the injury, serve written notice on the responsible agency giving the exact location and nature of the defect, the injury, and the names of witnesses you know of (MCL 691.1404(1)).
• Serve it in person, or by certified mail with a return receipt, on someone who can legally accept court papers for the agency. If the State is responsible, file it in triplicate with the clerk of the Court of Claims (MCL 691.1404(2)).
• A child under 18 has 180 days. Someone physically or mentally unable to give notice has 180 days after that condition ends (MCL 691.1404(3)).
• “Highway” includes bridges, sidewalks, trailways, crosswalks and culverts on the highway, but not alleys, trees or utility poles (MCL 691.1401(c)). The duty to repair is narrower: apart from sidewalks a city, village or township must maintain, it covers only the part of the road designed for vehicle travel (MCL 691.1402(1), 691.1402a).

Courts enforce the 120 days strictly. In Rowland v Washtenaw County Road Commission (2007), a woman who said she tripped on broken pavement served her notice on day 140, and the Michigan Supreme Court held her claim barred without requiring any showing that the delay hurt the road commission.

County roads. An older law still on the books sets a 60-day notice for county road commissions (MCL 224.21(3)), but in 2021 the Michigan Supreme Court held that the 120-day notice controls (Estate of Pearce v Eaton County Road Commission). A notice that also meets the older law’s terms avoids the question: serve it within 60 days on both the county clerk and the chairperson of the board of county road commissioners, and say that you intend to hold the county liable (MCL 224.21(3)).

The lawsuit: two years, not three. Highway-exception lawsuits must be filed within two years (MCL 691.1411(2)). Sidewalk claims against a city, village or township rest on a separate section (MCL 691.1402a), so ask a lawyer which period applies, and plan on two years to be safe.

Dangerous public buildings: notice within 120 days

The same kind of written notice, with the same contents, is due within 120 days (MCL 691.1406). The agency is liable only if it knew or should have known about the defect and didn’t fix it, or protect the public from it, within a reasonable time.

Claims against the State of Michigan: six months

For an injury or property damage claim against the State or one of its departments or agencies, file a written claim, or a written notice of intent to file one, with the clerk of the Michigan Court of Claims within six months of the event (MCL 600.6431(4)). It must say when and where the claim arose, describe the claim and the damages in detail, name the agency involved, and be signed and verified under oath before someone authorized to give oaths, such as a notary public (MCL 600.6431(2); 55.285). Include copies for the Attorney General and each agency named (MCL 600.6431(3)).

The notice rule applies whichever court the case is in, and the Michigan Supreme Court has applied it to a claim against a public university (Christie v Wayne State University, 2023). The lawsuit itself is generally due within three years (MCL 600.6452), or two for highway claims (MCL 691.1411(2)).

Federal agencies: two years

If a federal employee injured you while doing their job, you must first present a written claim to the agency within two years (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)). You can sue only after the agency denies the claim in writing or fails to decide it within six months (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a)), and you have six months to sue after a denial is mailed (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).

What are the deadlines after a work injury?

Workers’ compensation has two clocks, both in MCL 418.381(1):

• Tell your employer within 90 days after the injury, or after you knew or should have known about it. A late notice is excused unless your employer proves the delay harmed it, but don’t count on that.
• Make a claim within two years, to your employer (orally or in writing) or in writing to the state’s Workers’ Disability Compensation Agency. The two years run from the latest of the injury, the date the disability showed itself, or your last day working for that employer; after a work-related death, from the death.

Benefits generally can’t be paid for any period more than two years before you applied for a hearing with the agency, or more than one year before it for nursing or attendant care (MCL 418.381(2), (3)).

If someone other than your employer caused the injury, such as another driver or the maker of a defective machine, you may also have a lawsuit against them with the ordinary three-year deadline (MCL 600.5805(2), (12)). See how workers’ compensation works for the rest of the process.

What about dog bites, defective products and other claims?

• Dog bites: 3 years. Michigan’s dog-bite law makes the owner liable when a dog bites someone, without provocation, who was on public property or lawfully on private property, whether or not the dog had been vicious before (MCL 287.351). That law sets no deadline of its own, so the general three-year rule applies (MCL 600.5805(2)). See how dog bite claims work.
• Defective products: 3 years (MCL 600.5805(12)). See how product liability claims work.
• Construction defects: a claim against a licensed architect, engineer or contractor over an unsafe improvement to real property generally must also be brought within six years after the improvement was occupied, used or accepted (MCL 600.5839(1)(a), 600.5805(14)).
• Libel or slander: 1 year (MCL 600.5805(11)).

What stops or pauses the clock?

Pausing the clock is called tolling. Michigan’s main tolling statute lists three events (MCL 600.5856): filing the lawsuit, if the summons and complaint are then served on time; the court otherwise getting jurisdiction over the defendant; and a malpractice notice of intent. A summons generally expires 91 days after it’s issued unless a judge extends it (MCR 2.102(D)).

Settlement talks aren’t on the list. Negotiating with an adjuster, sending a demand letter or waiting for a callback doesn’t, by itself, stop the clock.

What to do next

1. Write down the date you were hurt, then find every row in the table that fits. Act first on the shortest deadline.
2. Send the short-deadline notices now, in writing: to your auto insurer for no-fault benefits, your employer for a work injury, or the government agency for a road, sidewalk, building or State claim. Keep copies and proof of delivery, and use certified mail with a return receipt for government notices.
3. Keep getting medical care, and keep your records. Bills, visit notes, pay stubs and photos prove the claim.
4. Talk to a lawyer well before any deadline. Malpractice needs a 182-day notice, and every case needs time to investigate. Get a free case review or compare Michigan injury lawyers.
5. Ask how the lawyer is paid, and get it in writing. How personal injury lawyers get paid explains contingency fees and case costs.

What waiting can cost

• The case itself. A lawsuit filed after the deadline can be dismissed, however clear the other side’s fault (MCL 600.5805(1)).
• Months of no-fault benefits. A PIP lawsuit generally can recover only losses from the year before it was filed, unless a pending claim paused that clock (MCL 500.3145(2), (3)).
• A claim against the government. A notice served 20 days late ended the claim in Rowland.
• Evidence. Video gets recorded over, cars get repaired, and witnesses become harder to find.

What a good outcome looks like

Every notice goes out on time and in the right form. If a lawsuit is needed, it’s filed with room to spare, and the case is decided on what happened and what it cost you, not on a missed date. The benefits you’re owed get paid, the people responsible answer for the rest, and you can focus on healing.

For Michigan’s other injury rules, start with Michigan personal injury law in plain English, or browse the full guide to injury claims.

Updated September 24, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.