Since James Powell, Sr., founded Powell Law in 1906, our attorneys have represented all types of workers in all types of personal injury cases. Pennsylvania has statutes of limitations that provide time limits for filing civil causes of action, typically determined by the type of cause of action. The time limit or period prescribed by a statute of limitations is normally for a term of years.
When the statute of limitations begins to run, a civil lawsuit must be brought against a party within the time prescribed by the statute. Once the time-period set forth by the statute of limitations expires, a plaintiff may no longer file a claim and bring a lawsuit.
The lawyers at Powell Law may assist injured parties in determining the nature of their particular cause of action to find which statute of limitations pertains to their case. The following are various Pennsylvania Statutes of Limitations for civil tort or personal injury causes of action in Pennsylvania:
*One-year statute of limitations: Slander, libel
*Two-year statute of limitations: Personal injury, assault and battery, false imprisonment, fraud, medical malpractice, product liability, property damage, trespass, wrongful death.
A Pennsylvania statute of limitations commences as soon as the right to institute and maintain a suit arises. However, any operation of the statute of limitations must take into consideration a Pennsylvania discovery rule that tolls the running of the applicable statute of limitations until the injured party knows or reasonably should have known that he has been injured and that the injury has been caused by the actions of another.
The discovery rule therefore pauses or tolls the statute of limitations from running during the time period that a party who has not suffered an immediately discoverable injury is unaware of such injury, as long as the unawareness is reasonable.
Establishing the proper statute of limitations requires the experience and expertise of the personal injury attorneys at Powell Law. If you have been injured and require assistance in determining the time limits applicable to filing a cause of action for personal injury, contact the Powell Law Firm. Our decades of experience make it the clear and obvious choice for representation in personal injury matters in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and surrounding areas. Contact Powell Law at (570) 961-0777. The consultation is FREE and you don’t pay unless we win!
