Tennessee Personal Injury Statute of Limitations
The Tennessee personal injury statute of limitations generally gives an injured person one year to file a lawsuit. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1), actions for injuries to the person must be commenced within one year after the cause of action accrues.
That is a short filing period for someone who spends months receiving medical treatment or negotiating with an insurance company and can lose substantial time before realizing that settlement discussions do not preserve the right to sue.
There are exceptions and special rules, but they are narrow and depend on the facts of the case. If you were injured, contact Grissim & Waterman for a free consultation with a Nashville-based personal injury lawyer. Let’s discuss your claim and protect your right to pursue compensation.
What Kind of Cases Does the Personal Injury Statute of Limitations Apply to in Tennessee?
This rule commonly applies to claims arising from car accidents, premises liability, dog bites, and other incidents in which another person or business allegedly caused bodily injury.
The one-year period is a deadline for commencing a civil action, not merely for opening an insurance claim or contacting an attorney. If the applicable statute of limitations expires before a lawsuit is properly commenced, the defendant can raise the deadline as a defense and seek dismissal.
When Does the One-Year Statute of Limitations Period Begin?
In a straightforward accident case, the limitations period will often begin on the date of the injury. If, for example, a person is injured in a car crash and immediately knows both that an injury occurred and how it happened, there is usually little uncertainty about when the claim accrued.
Accrual can become more complicated when an injury or its cause is not immediately apparent. Tennessee courts apply a discovery rule in appropriate tort cases, so the relevant date is not always identical to the date of the defendant’s conduct.
Because the filing deadline turns on when the claim legally accrued, an injured person should not assume that a later diagnosis automatically creates a new one-year period.
How Does Tennessee’s Discovery Rule Work When Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Under Tennessee’s discovery rule, a personal injury claim generally accrues when the plaintiff knows, or in the exercise of reasonable care should know, that an injury has occurred as a result of wrongful or tortious conduct.
While the rule can protect someone who reasonably could not have discovered the injury or its cause earlier, it does not normally allow a plaintiff to wait until every medical consequence is known or until a personal injury attorney identifies a specific legal theory.
Tennessee courts generally focus on whether the person had enough information to put a reasonable person on notice that an actionable injury may have occurred. A delayed diagnosis therefore does not automatically mean the statute of limitations was delayed.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline to File Suit?
Missing the applicable filing deadline can result in dismissal of the lawsuit, even if the underlying personal injury case might otherwise have been strong.
Once the statute of limitations has expired, the defendant can raise that deadline as a defense. The injured person may then lose the ability to recover full compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other personal injury damages.
Waiting until the final weeks of the limitations period can also create practical problems. A personal injury attorney may still need time to investigate the accident, obtain medical records, identify all potentially responsible parties, preserve evidence, and determine the correct court and venue.
Does Filing an Insurance Claim Stop the Statute of Limitations?
No. Reporting an accident to an insurance company, submitting medical bills, exchanging settlement offers, or participating in negotiations does not generally stop Tennessee’s statute of limitations from running.
This distinction is especially important when negotiations continue for several months, and an insurance company may still be evaluating a claim while the deadline to file a lawsuit is approaching.
An injured person should therefore treat the statute of limitations and the insurance claims process as two separate timelines.
Do Minors Get More Than a Year to File a Lawsuit?
Tennessee has a statutory tolling provision for people who are under 18 when a cause of action accrues.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-106, a person who was a minor at the time the claim accrued may generally commence the action after the disability is removed within the limitations period applicable to that claim, subject to the conditions in the statute. For an ordinary one-year personal injury case, this can provide additional time after the minor turns 18.
However, this should not be treated as a universal rule that every claim involving a child remains open until age 19. Statutes of repose and claim-specific rules can restrict tolling. The exact deadline should therefore be determined based on the type of case involved.
What If the Injured Person Lacks Mental Capacity?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-106 also addresses certain plaintiffs who were adjudicated mentally incompetent or lacked sufficient mental capacity when the claim accrued. Depending on the circumstances, the limitations period may be extended until the legal disability is removed.
However, there are important considerations. For instance, if another person already has court-ordered fiduciary responsibility or the legal authority to bring a lawsuit for the injured person, the ordinary limitations period may still apply unless a statutory exception is satisfied.
Because these cases are fact-specific, mental incapacity should not be assumed to automatically suspend every personal injury deadline.
Does the Deadline Stop If the Defendant Leaves Tennessee?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-111 contains a tolling provision addressing defendants who are absent from Tennessee. The statute can exclude certain periods of absence when calculating the deadline for bringing an action.
However, a defendant leaving the state does not automatically extend every personal injury claim. Tennessee courts have recognized limitations on this rule, particularly where the defendant remains subject to service through an available legal procedure.
An injured person should therefore not assume that an out-of-state defendant gives them more than one year to file personal injury claims.
Can Criminal Charges Extend the Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury?
In some cases, yes. Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(2) provides a two-year limitations period for certain personal injury cases connected to criminal prosecution.
The extension is subject to specific statutory conditions. Among other requirements, criminal charges must be brought against a person alleged to have caused or contributed to the injury, and the conduct giving rise to the civil claim must become the subject of a criminal prosecution commenced within one year by a law enforcement officer, district attorney general, or grand jury.
The statute also directs courts to construe this provision strictly, which means criminal conduct by itself does not necessarily give an injured person two years to file a lawsuit.
What Is the Filing Deadline for Medical Malpractice Claims?
Tennessee medical malpractice cases, referred to under state law as health care liability actions, generally have a one-year statute of limitations under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-116. If the injury is not discovered during that period, the statute provides one year from the date of discovery, subject to additional limitations.
Medical malpractice claims also generally have a three-year statute of repose measured from the date of the negligent act or omission. While the statute of limitations period may depend on when the injury was discovered, a statute of repose generally creates an outside deadline regardless of discovery. Tennessee law includes limited exceptions to the three-year repose period, including certain cases involving fraudulent concealment or a foreign object negligently left in a patient’s body.
Medical malpractice cases also have a separate pre-suit requirement. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-121, a claimant generally must provide written notice to each health care provider that will be named as a defendant at least 60 days before taking legal action. Compliant notice can extend the applicable limitations and repose periods by 120 days as provided by the statute.
These additional requirements make medical malpractice deadlines more complicated than most personal injury cases.
How Long Do You Have to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
Wrongful death claims in Tennessee require careful deadline analysis.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106, the claim the deceased person would have had survives and passes to the beneficiaries or representative identified by statute. Tennessee courts generally apply the one-year personal injury limitations period to wrongful death claims.
However, it can be misleading to describe the rule simply as “one year from the date of death.” Tennessee treats wrongful death as preserving the underlying cause of action rather than creating an entirely new and independent claim. Therefore, if the injured person survived for a period before death, the accrual date of the underlying claim can become important.
Our wrongful death lawyers in Nashville can help families have the filing deadline calculated based on the specific facts rather than assuming the clock always begins on the date of death.
Are Claims Against Government Entities Different?
Yes. Personal injury claims involving a Tennessee city, county, school system, or other governmental entity may be governed by the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-305, qualifying actions under the Act generally must be commenced within 12 months after the cause of action arises.
Government claims also involve issues that do not ordinarily arise in claims against private individuals or businesses, including governmental immunity, statutory exceptions to immunity, jurisdiction, venue, and limits on recoverable damages.
If a government entity may be responsible for an injury, that issue should be identified at the beginning of the case rather than after the ordinary one-year period is already close to expiring.
What If Another Responsible Party Is Identified After the Lawsuit Is Filed?
Tennessee law provides a narrow procedure for adding certain responsible parties after the ordinary statute of limitations has expired.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-1-119, if a lawsuit was timely filed and a defendant alleges in an answer or amended answer that a person who is not already a party caused or contributed to the plaintiff’s injury, the plaintiff may have 90 days to amend the complaint or bring a separate action against that person.
This rule is tied to Tennessee’s comparative fault system, and it is not a general 90-day extension of the statute of limitations. The statutory requirements still must be satisfied, and the provision does not extend an applicable statute of repose.
Book a Free Consultation About the Personal Injury Statute of Limitations in Tennessee
Tennessee gives many injured people only one year to protect their right to file a personal injury lawsuit. The discovery rule, disability tolling, personal injury cases involving criminal proceedings, medical malpractice requirements, wrongful death law, government claims, and other exceptions can change how the deadline applies in a particular case.
Because the correct filing date depends on the type of claim and the specific facts, waiting until the end of the one-year period can create unnecessary risk.
An experienced personal injury attorney can determine when the claim accrued, identify any applicable exception, preserve evidence, calculate filing deadlines, and file the lawsuit in the proper court before time runs out.
If you were injured because of someone else’s negligence, contact the legal team at Grissim & Waterman. We offer a free consultation to discuss your rights, the deadline that may apply to your case, and the compensation you may be entitled to pursue. Call us at 615-255-9999.
