Tennessee Estatuto de Limitaciones para Lesiones Personales
What is the deadline for each kind of Tennessee claim?
The one that catches people out
Personal injury: un año, Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1). It runs from the date the cause of action accrued, which in a crash case is normally the date of the crash.
Almost every state around Tennessee is more generous. Mississippi and Arkansas both allow three years. Texas allows two. Kentucky and Georgia have their own rules. Someone injured in Tennessee who assumes the deadline is “a couple of years, probably” has usually lost the claim by the time they check.
The main deadlines side by side
- Personal injury — 1 year. Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1).
- Personal injury where criminal charges are brought — 2 years. § 28-3-104(a)(2), and only if strict conditions are met.
- Property damage (including your vehicle) — 3 years. § 28-3-105.
- Claims against a Tennessee governmental entity — 12 months. Governmental Tort Liability Act, § 29-20-305.
- Health care liability (medical malpractice) — 1 year from discovery, with a 3-year statute of repose. § 29-26-116.
- Products liability — within 6 years of injury, and in any event within 10 years of first purchase for use, or 1 year after the expiration of the product’s anticipated life, whichever is shorter. § 29-28-103.
- Contract claims — generally 6 years. § 28-3-109.
If more than one of these could apply to your situation, the shortest one controls the part of the claim it governs. Do not average them.
Why does the same accident have two different deadlines?
Because Tennessee treats injury to a person and injury to property as separate causes of action with separate statutes. A single collision can produce a un año deadline for your broken wrist under § 28-3-104 and a tres años deadline for your totalled car under § 28-3-105.
This is a genuine trap. People hear “three years” from a body shop or an adjuster discussing the vehicle and carry that number over to the injury claim. The injury claim is the valuable one, and it is the one with twelve months on it.
When does the two-year extension actually apply?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(2) extends the period to two years, but only when all of the following line up:
- Criminal charges are brought against a person alleged to have caused or contributed to the injury;
- The conduct, transaction or occurrence giving rise to the civil claim is the subject of a criminal prosecution commenced within one year of the injury; and
- The civil action is brought by the injured person against the party prosecuted.
All three conditions matter. A citation is not necessarily a prosecution. A prosecution commenced thirteen months later does not qualify. And the extension runs against the party who was prosecuted, not against every defendant in the case.
The honest advice: treat one year as your deadline. If the extension turns out to apply, that is a bonus your lawyer will evaluate — not a plan you build on while the year runs out.
What is the deadline against a city, county or state agency?
Under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-305, an action against a governmental entity must be commenced within 12 months after the cause of action arises.
This catches a wide range of cases people do not think of as “suing the government”: a collision with a city sanitation truck, a county school bus, a police cruiser, a public utility vehicle, or a fall on public property. The GTLA also limits which claims can be brought at all and caps damages.
If any public entity is anywhere in your facts, treat the file as urgent from day one.
How does the discovery rule work in Tennessee?
Injuries that are not obvious immediately
Tennessee applies a discovery rule to certain claims, so the clock starts when the injured person knew or reasonably should have known of the injury and its cause, rather than automatically on the date of the negligent act. This matters most where harm is not apparent at once.
Health care liability
Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-116 gives one year from discovery for health care liability actions, but adds an outer limit: a three-year statute of repose, beyond which the claim is barred regardless of when the injury was discovered. Health care liability claims also carry their own pre-suit notice and certificate of good faith requirements that are separate from the deadline itself.
Statutes of limitations versus statutes of repose
This distinction decides cases. A statute of limitaciones can be tolled — paused — by things like a plaintiff’s minority or incapacity. A statute of repose generally cannot. Tennessee courts have held that the legal disability statute does not operate to toll an otherwise applicable statute of repose, and the products liability repose in § 29-28-103 admits of no exceptions beyond those expressly listed.
So a claim can be perfectly alive under the limitations period and still dead under the repose period. Both have to be checked.
What if the injured person is a child?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-106 addresses accrual where a person is under eighteen, adjudicated incompetent, or lacking capacity. For a minor, the limitation period does not begin to run until the child reaches eighteen — so for a one-year claim, that ordinarily means until the nineteenth birthday.
Two cautions. First, the statute expressly provides that nothing in that subsection affects or tolls a statute of repose. Second, waiting until a child turns eighteen to investigate a crash that happened at age seven is a practical disaster even where it is legally permitted: the evidence will be long gone. The deadline being open is not the same as the case being provable.
What happens if you miss the deadline?
The claim ends. A defendant raises the statute of limitations, and the court dismisses. It does not matter how badly you were hurt, how clear the other driver’s fault was, or how much insurance was available. Courts do not weigh the merits of an untimely claim.
This is why lawyers sound repetitive about dates. Almost everything else in a case can be fixed or argued. This cannot.
Why is the practical deadline much earlier than the legal one?
Evidence has its own clock
Filing on the final day is legal. It is rarely a good case. Business and traffic camera footage is overwritten within days or weeks. Vehicles are repaired or scrapped. Witnesses move and stop returning calls. Skid marks and debris are gone after the first rain.
Commercial truck records are the sharpest example
A motor carrier only has to keep a back-up copy of electronic logging device records for seis meses under 49 C.F.R. § 395.22, with supporting documents likewise retained six months under § 395.11. Against Tennessee’s one-year filing deadline, that means the records that prove how a truck crash happened can lawfully be gone before the deadline to sue has even arrived. Our Tennessee truck accident page covers what a preservation letter should demand and when.
Treatment needs to be finished, too
A case generally should not settle before the treating physicians can say whether an injury is permanent. One year is not a long time to complete treatment, gather records, establish coverage and negotiate — which is another reason the real working deadline is months earlier than the statutory one.
Where do you go next?
For the general framework, see our Tennessee personal injury overview y el Tennessee home page. For specific case types: accidentes de coche y accidentes de camiones. By city: Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga y Jackson.
If your accident happened across a state line, the deadline is different: Mississippi allows three years, Arkansas allows three, Texas allows two, and we also practise in Kentucky y Georgia. Where the injury happened generally drives the analysis, not where you live.
Frequently asked questions about the Tennessee statute of limitations
¿Cuánto tiempo tengo que presentar una demanda por lesiones personales en Tennessee?
One year from the date the cause of action accrued, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1). Tennessee has one of the shortest personal injury deadlines in the country.
Is the Tennessee statute of limitations really only one year?
Yes for personal injury. Property damage from the same accident gets three years under § 28-3-105, which is why people are sometimes quoted two different numbers for one crash. The injury claim is the one with twelve months on it.
When does Tennessee allow two years instead of one?
Under § 28-3-104(a)(2), where criminal charges are brought against a person alleged to have caused or contributed to the injury, the prosecution commenced within one year of the injury, and the injured person sues the party prosecuted. All three conditions must be met.
What is the deadline to sue a city or county in Tennessee?
Twelve months after the cause of action arises, under the Governmental Tort Liability Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-305. This applies to collisions with government vehicles and injuries on public property, and the GTLA also limits claims and caps damages.
What is the statute of limitations for medical malpractice in Tennessee?
One year from when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, subject to a three-year statute of repose, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-116. Health care liability claims also have separate pre-suit notice and certificate of good faith requirements.
Does the deadline pause for a child?
Yes. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-106 the limitation period does not begin to run for a person under eighteen until they reach eighteen, so a one-year claim generally runs to the nineteenth birthday. That provision does not toll a statute of repose, and waiting is still bad for the evidence.
What is the difference between a statute of limitations and a statute of repose?
A statute of limitations sets a deadline that can be tolled, for example by a plaintiff’s minority or incapacity. A statute of repose sets an outer cut-off that generally cannot be tolled. A claim can be timely under the limitations period and still barred by repose, so both must be checked.
What is the deadline for a defective product claim in Tennessee?
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-28-103, within six years of the injury, and in any event within ten years from the date the product was first purchased for use or consumption, or within one year after the expiration of the product’s anticipated life, whichever is shorter.
What is the deadline for property damage after a Tennessee car accident?
Three years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105, which covers damage to your vehicle and other property. This is separate from the one-year deadline for bodily injury.
What happens if I miss the Tennessee statute of limitations?
The claim is barred. A defendant raises the statute and the court dismisses, regardless of how serious the injury was or how clear the other side’s fault was.
Does the deadline change if the accident happened in another state?
Usually yes. Where the injury occurred generally drives the analysis rather than where you live. Mississippi and Arkansas allow three years and Texas allows two, so the same facts can be timely across a state line and barred in Tennessee.
How soon should I actually contact a lawyer?
As early as possible, and well inside the year. Camera footage is often overwritten within days, vehicles get repaired, and a commercial carrier only has to keep electronic logging records for six months under 49 C.F.R. § 395.22 — shorter than the deadline to sue.
This page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Limitation periods are fact-specific, and statutes and case law change; only a lawyer who has reviewed your file can tell you which deadline applies to your claim. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Responsible attorney: Larry “Jimmy” Peters, Tennessee BPR #37889. Southern Injury Attorneys’ Tennessee office is our headquarters in Memphis at 5865 Ridgeway Center Parkway, Suite 390.
