The statute of limitations is a time sensitive limit to start a legal proceeding. This limitation normally begins from the date of an alleged offense, whether civil or criminal and is the amount of time a person is able to file a claim for an injury. These time frames vary from state to state. A statute of limitations for a typical personal injury case can range from as short as one year to as long as six years, depending on the state. In New York, the statute of limitations for most types of personal injury cases is three years, which means a plaintiff has three years to pursue a lawsuit after sustaining an injury.
What this means for your case is if you do not retain a lawyer to pursue a lawsuit in time, your case may never be able to be heard. This could result in your not receiving compensation for a personal injury that is due you. However, there may be discovery rules or other ways to extend a deadline as well. This is why you should contact a law firm like Zemsky and Salomon for legal advice.