Oregon Car Accident Statute of Limitations: The 2-Year Rule and Its Exceptions

Oregon's basic rule is this: most car accident injury lawsuits have to be filed within two years of the crash (ORS 12.110(1)). That is the deadline people usually mean when they ask about "the statute of limitations." But several situations shorten that window, extend it, or run on an entirely separate clock, and those exceptions are where people lose claims they did not know they had.

This is also a good place to clear up a common mix-up. The two year lawsuit deadline (ORS 12.110(1)) is not the same thing as the two year PIP benefit window (ORS 742.524(1)(a)). One governs how long you have to sue someone. The other sets how long the window stays open for incurring medical expenses your own insurer will pay. They happen to share a number, which is exactly why people conflate them. For a full breakdown of the PIP side of things, see Oregon PIP explained in plain English.

What does "filing" actually mean here?

"Filing" means a lawsuit is submitted to an Oregon court, not that a claim was reported to an insurance company. Calling an insurer, opening a claim number, or negotiating with an adjuster for eighteen months does none of that. One detail is worth knowing: under ORS 12.020, filing the complaint only counts as of the filing date if the summons is served on the defendant within 60 days after filing. If service comes later, the case is treated as commenced on the date of service, and that date has to fall inside the deadline on its own. Settlement talks can drag on right up to a deadline and then past it, and an insurer generally has no obligation to remind anyone that the clock is running out. One narrow rule runs the other way: under ORS 12.155, if the person who makes an advance payment on a claim (in a car crash, usually the other driver's liability insurer) fails to give written notice of the limitations expiration date within 30 days of that first payment, the running of the period is suspended until the notice is given.

Why does property damage get six years while injuries only get two?

Oregon splits these into different statutes. Personal injury claims run on a two year clock (ORS 12.110(1)). Claims for damage to a vehicle run on a six year clock, under ORS 12.080(4), which covers taking, detaining or injuring personal property. Lawmakers generally treat physical injury claims as more time sensitive, partly because memories fade and medical evidence gets harder to reconstruct the longer a case sits.

Practically, the difference means a person can occasionally still sue over totaled vehicle costs years after the deadline to sue for their own injuries has already closed. It is not a reason to wait, but it explains why the two pieces of the same crash can end up on different timelines.

When does the two-year clock actually start ticking?

Generally, the date of the crash. ORS 12.110(1) does not itself say when the clock starts, so Oregon courts apply a discovery rule: a claim accrues when the injured person knows, or reasonably should know, of the harm, its cause, and the fact that someone else's conduct was wrongful. In an ordinary collision all three are obvious on day one, which is why the crash date is the working answer. It is not a loophole to plan around. The safest assumption is that day one is the day of the collision, not the day symptoms worsened or the day a diagnosis was made.

What's the exception that catches the most people?

Government defendants. If the at fault party was a city, county, school district, state agency, or another public body, or if a government maintained road or signal contributed to the crash, the Oregon Tort Claims Act imposes two separate deadlines: one to give notice of the claim and one to file the lawsuit.

First, notice of the claim. ORS 30.275(2)(b) requires notice within 180 days after the alleged loss or injury for most claims, and ORS 30.275(2)(a) allows one year for wrongful death. Oregon courts apply a discovery rule to that period, so it runs from when the claimant knew or reasonably should have known of the injury. Notice does not have to be a formal letter. Under ORS 30.275(3) it can be satisfied by formal notice, by actual notice, by filing the lawsuit within the notice period, or by the public body paying part of the claim.

Second, the lawsuit itself. ORS 30.275(9) requires an action against a public body to be commenced within two years after the alleged loss or injury, notwithstanding any other limitations statute. For most injury claims that matches the ordinary two years. For a fatal crash it does not: the two year Tort Claims Act period replaces the three year wrongful death period in ORS 30.020.

Miss the notice deadline and the claim can be barred long before the deadline a reader would calculate from the general rules. A city bus, a county owned vehicle, a school bus, or a poorly maintained public roadway can all put a crash on this track, and many people do not realize it applies until it is already too late.

Does the clock pause for a child injured in a crash?

Partly, but far less than most people expect. Under ORS 12.160(1) the limitations period is paused (lawyers call this tolling) while the injured person is under 18, but ORS 12.160(2) caps that tolling: the time to commence an action may not be extended for more than five years, or for more than one year after the person attains 18 years of age, whichever occurs first. For an ordinary injury claim that means an injured child has at most the two years of ORS 12.110(1) plus five years of tolling, so seven years from the date of the crash, and in no event more than one year past their 18th birthday. A child injured at six does not have until age 20. The realistic deadline is age 13. Tolling also does not reach everything. It does not extend the Oregon Tort Claims Act notice period, where a minor instead gets up to 90 extra days for 270 days total, and ORS 12.160(1) by its terms does not cover the wrongful death statute. Nor should anyone assume it extends the two year uninsured motorist condition described below. This is not a deadline to estimate casually.

What about a death caused by a car accident?

Wrongful death claims run on their own statute, separate from the ordinary personal injury deadline. Under ORS 30.020(1), the action must be commenced within three years after the injury that caused the death is discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered. The date of death is not the starting point. It is an outer limit: the statute says an action may in no case be commenced later than the earliest of three years after the death, or the longest outside deadline that applies under another law to the act or omission that caused the injury (lawyers call that kind of law a statute of ultimate repose). In practice that means when someone survives a crash for weeks or months before passing away, the three year clock generally started at the crash, not at the death, so the deadline arrives sooner than families tend to assume. If a public body is involved in a fatal crash the picture changes again: notice must be given within one year under ORS 30.275(2)(a), and the lawsuit itself must be filed within two years under ORS 30.275(9), which displaces the three year wrongful death period entirely.

Why does the PIP window share the same "2 years" and still not matter here?

Oregon requires PIP coverage in every motor vehicle liability policy issued for delivery in this state that covers a private passenger vehicle (ORS 742.520(1)(a)). The benefits themselves are set by ORS 742.524(1)(a): medical expenses incurred within two years after the date of injury, up to a statutory minimum of $15,000. Policies can, and sometimes do, offer more than that minimum (ORS 742.532). None of that has anything to do with the deadline to sue an at fault driver. PIP is paid by an injured person's own insurer regardless of fault, on its own two year clock, while the lawsuit deadline under ORS 12.110(1) is a completely separate legal requirement. For more on how the settlement process unfolds once a claim is open, see how long an Oregon car accident claim takes to settle. That article covers how long a claim takes; this one covers how long you have to bring it.

What about uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage?

Uninsured motorist coverage has its own two year condition (ORS 742.504(12)(a)), and underinsurance coverage is subject to that section (ORS 742.502(4)). Under that subsection, the insured has no right to bring a claim under this coverage unless, within two years of the date of the accident, one of four events has happened: an agreement on the amount due under the policy has been concluded, the insured or the insurer has formally started arbitration proceedings, the insured has filed a lawsuit against the insurer, or a lawsuit for bodily injury has been filed against the uninsured motorist. The fourth also requires that, within two years of the date of settlement or final judgment against the uninsured motorist, the insured has formally started arbitration proceedings or filed a lawsuit against the insurer. Suing the uninsured motorist and taking no further step does not satisfy the fourth event.

Does shared fault affect any of these deadlines?

No, comparative fault and the statute of limitations are separate issues. Oregon's comparative fault rule affects how much a person can recover if they were partly responsible for a crash, but it does not extend or shorten the filing deadline. Someone who was 30% at fault for a crash still has to file within the same window as someone who was not at fault at all. Nothing in ORS 31.600 changes a limitations period. The only crossover runs the other direction: under ORS 31.600(2)(c), a jury does not weigh the fault of someone who cannot be sued because the claim against them is already time barred. For a full explanation of how fault percentages affect a payout, see Oregon's comparative fault and the 51% rule.

What happens if the deadline passes?

In nearly every situation, the claim is over. Once the statute of limitations runs out, the party being sued can ask the court to dismiss the case on that basis alone, without any examination of who was actually at fault or how serious the injuries were. It is an affirmative defense that has to be pleaded, and defense counsel routinely plead it. Settlement negotiations with an insurance company do not, by themselves, pause this clock, and the narrow ORS 12.155 advance payment rule is one exception. People sometimes negotiate in good faith for a year and a half, assume there is still time, and find out otherwise only after the window has closed.

What should someone do if they're unsure which deadline applies?

Figure out early whether any government entity might be involved, even indirectly (a public road, a government vehicle, a transit agency), because that is the deadline that moves fastest. Beyond that, given how many separate clocks can apply to a single crash, a short conversation with an Oregon attorney early on is usually more useful than trying to track every exception alone. See whether you need a lawyer after a car accident in Oregon for what that conversation typically covers.

Sources

• ORS Chapter 12, Limitations of Actions and Suits covers ORS 12.020 (when an action is deemed begun, and the 60 day service rule), 12.080 (six year periods, including 12.080(4) for personal property), 12.110 (the two year personal injury period), 12.155 (advance payments), and 12.160 (tolling for minors and its five year and one year caps).
• ORS Chapter 30, Actions and Suits in Particular Cases covers ORS 30.020 (wrongful death, when commenced) and ORS 30.275 (Oregon Tort Claims Act notice periods in subsection (2) and the two year period for filing suit in subsection (9)).
• ORS Chapter 742, Property and Casualty Policies covers ORS 742.502 (uninsured motorist coverage and underinsurance coverage), ORS 742.504 (required provisions of uninsured motorist coverage, including the two year condition in subsection (12)), ORS 742.520 (PIP required in every private passenger auto policy), ORS 742.524 (the $15,000 minimum and the two year window for expenses incurred), and ORS 742.532 (insurers may provide more than the minimum).
• ORS Chapter 31, Tort Actions covers ORS 31.600, Oregon's comparative fault standard.
• Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure covers ORCP 3 (commencement of an action), ORCP 19 B (statute of limitations as an affirmative defense that must be pleaded), and ORCP 21 (when a limitations defense must be raised or is waived).
• Annotations to ORS Chapter 30, the Legislature's official case summaries, including Van Wormer v. City of Salem, Stephens v. Bohlman, and Doe v. Lake Oswego School District.
• Annotations to ORS Chapter 12, including Rice v. Rabb and Shaw v. Zabel.
• Oregon Statutory Time Limitations Handbook (2022), Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund, used to corroborate the wrongful death trigger, the public body deadlines, the seven year minor's period, and property damage under ORS 12.080(4).