State personal injury law resources
Filing deadlines, shared-fault rules and government-claim requirements differ from state to state. This section summarizes those rules in plain English for the states we have verified against official sources, with links so you can read the law yourself.
We currently publish verified entries for California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. We do not publish entries for other states until they have been checked against official sources. If your state is not listed, consult your state legislature’s official statutes website, your state court system’s self-help resources, or a licensed attorney.
Summary of verified states
| State | General personal injury filing deadline | Shared-fault rule |
|---|---|---|
| California | A lawsuit generally must be filed within two years. (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1) | Pure comparative fault |
| Florida | The 2026 Florida Statutes list “an action founded on negligence” among actions that must be commenced within two years. (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a) (2026)) | Modified: barred if greater than 50% at fault (most negligence actions) |
| Illinois | An action for personal injury generally must be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued. (735 ILCS 5/13-202) | Modified: barred if fault is more than 50% |
| New York | Most personal injury actions must be commenced within three years. (N.Y. CPLR 214(5)) | Pure comparative fault; modified (barred if greater than defendants’) for no-fault motor vehicle actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026 |
| Pennsylvania | Such actions must be commenced within two years. (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2)) | Modified: barred if negligence is greater than defendants’ |
| Texas | A person must bring suit not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues. (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a)) | Modified: barred if responsibility is greater than 50% |
Each state page lists the claim types covered, the exact provision, the official source, exceptions and the review date. The summary above omits exceptions and is not a substitute for the full entry.
Filing deadlines are not one-size-fits-all
A statute of limitations sets the time to file a lawsuit. Even within one state, the period can differ by type of claim (for example medical malpractice), by the age of the injured person, and by the type of defendant. When the defendant is a government body, many states require a formal written notice of claim within a much shorter time — sometimes 90 days or six months — before a lawsuit can be filed. Missing that notice deadline can end a claim even if the general limitations period has not expired.
How shared-fault rules differ
When an injured person is partly responsible for an accident, states use one of several approaches. They are not interchangeable, and two “modified” rules can produce different results at exactly 50% fault.
| Approach | Effect of the injured person’s fault | Example: damages $100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Pure comparative fault | Damages reduced by the person’s share, no bar to recovery. | At 70% fault: $30,000 |
| Modified — barred if fault is greater than 50% (or greater than the defendants’) | Reduced by share; barred above 50%. At exactly 50%, recovery is reduced, not barred. | At 50%: $50,000. At 51%: $0 |
| Modified — barred if fault is 50% or more (or equal to the defendants’) | Reduced by share; barred at 50% and above. | At 49%: $51,000. At 50%: $0 |
| Contributory negligence | Any fault by the injured person can bar recovery, subject to limited doctrines in some places. | At 1%: $0 |
Examples are hypothetical arithmetic only. How fault is allocated among multiple defendants, and how settlements with other parties are credited, varies by state.
All six states currently covered use either pure comparative fault (California; New York for most personal injury actions) or a rule under which recovery is barred only when the injured person’s share is greater than 50% or greater than the defendants’ (Florida for most negligence actions, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and New York for actions subject to its no-fault motor vehicle law commenced on or after May 26, 2026).
How we verify and maintain entries
- Every entry cites the statute or official court resource it summarizes and links to an official government or court-maintained source where available.
- We state the type of claim each rule applies to and distinguish claims against private parties from claims against government entities.
- Each entry carries a last-reviewed date. Laws change — New York’s comparative fault rule changed in 2026 and Florida’s negligence deadline changed in 2023 — so we re-check entries periodically and when we learn of changes.
- If you find an error, please tell us at support@claimsettleiq.com. See our Editorial Policy.
Relationship to our calculators
None of ClaimSettleIQ’s calculators apply state law automatically. The Settlement Estimator lets you choose a fault rule to illustrate its arithmetic; it does not know which rule applies to your claim.