When you want to make a claim for an injury, you need to do so as soon as possible. If you don’t, you may find that the statute of limitations blocks you from getting the compensation you deserve. In Connecticut, the statute of limitations for an injury is two years. What that means is that you have two years from the time of injury to file a claim against the person you hold responsible.
What’s important to know about the statute of limitations is that it doesn’t generally start until you should know or would have known about your injury. So, if you had surgery years ago and didn’t suffer any side effects until recently, you may be able to make a claim for the harm you’re suffering due to the injury now, since you’re reporting it as soon as you’ve realized you’re injured.
A delay in the discovery of an injury needs to be reasonable, even if you claim you didn’t know about an injury until later. For instance, if you’re injured during surgery, it makes sense that you would have been under the influence of anesthesia and wouldn’t know about the injury directly. However, if you were in a car accident, then you’d have a more obvious injury and should recognize it sooner, making a delayed discovery of an injury unlikely.
Every state has a different length for its statute of limitations, so if you are hurt across state lines, make sure you speak with your attorney about the statute that applies in your situation. It may be longer than two years.
Source: FindLaw, “Time Limits to Bring a Case: The “Statute of Limitations”,” accessed Sep. 17, 2015
