The "statute of limitations" is the specified time limit within which a lawsuit, arising from an accident, must be filed, or the right to sue is lost. It varies from state to state, and may vary, depending on the type of accident or injury that occurred. The current range is from 1 year with Kentucky to 6 years in Maine and North Dakota. Typically, the statute of limitations for a minor does not begin until he or she reaches the age of thirteen. 

There is an exception to the statute of limitations; it is called the discovery rule. While the statute of limitations may state that a personal injury lawsuit must be filed within a specific period of time following an accident or injury, the time limit does not begin until the moment when the person knew or should reasonably have known that he or she had suffered harm, and the nature of that harm.  So, if a surgeon accidently leaves an instrument within a patient during surgery, but this is not discovered until years later, the statute of limitations does not begin at the time of the first surgery, but rather at the time that the error was discovered. However, the delay in discovery must be reasonable. So, if in the instance described, the patient was experiencing abdominal pain but did not have it medically examined, there would be good reason that the error should have been discovered earlier and the statute of limitations would begin from that earlier time and not from the actual time the error was discovered. Also, keep in mind that the discovery rule is quite rare, especially in the more common personal injury cases, as there is nothing that need to be discovered in a basic “slip and fall” case.

State laws change from year to year, so check with an experienced personal injury attorney to find out what the statute of limitations would be in your potential personal injury case.