Pennsylvania car accident law: deadlines, tort options and your claim

Filing deadlines in Pennsylvania#

Pennsylvania's statute of limitationsStatute of limitations. The law that sets the last day to file a lawsuit. After it passes, a court will usually dismiss the case, however strong it is. Glossary for crash claims is in Title 42 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. Injury, vehicle damage and wrongful death claims share the same two-year period.

Injured children. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5533(b), the time before a child turns 18 does not count, so the child has the normal deadline after turning 18. This is a form of tollingTolling. Pausing the limitations clock, for example while the injured person is a child. Glossary. In practice, a child hurt in a crash generally has until two years after the 18th birthday to sue.

Claims against the government. Before suing a city, county, township, state agency or other government unit, you must file a signed written statement in its office within 6 months of the injury. The statement gives your name and address, the date, hour and approximate place of the crash, and the name and address of any doctor who treated you. The lawsuit deadline is still 2 years.

How fault is shared in Pennsylvania#

Under Pennsylvania's comparative negligence law, 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 7102(a), your own negligence does not bar recovery as long as it is not greater than the negligence of the defendants. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. At 50% you still recover half; at 51% you recover nothing.

Try the fault-rule explainer to compare Pennsylvania with other states.

Insurance in Pennsylvania#

Pennsylvania drivers must carry liability insurance of at least $15,000 per person and $30,000 per crash for injuries, plus $5,000 for property damage. Every policy also includes first-party medical benefits of at least $5,000, Pennsylvania's version of personal injury protectionPersonal injury protection (PIP). Coverage under your own policy that pays medical bills and some lost income after a crash, whoever caused it. Glossary, which pay your medical bills whoever caused the crash.

• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage: Must be offered; optional (can be rejected on a separate signed form). When you have it, the uninsured and underinsured motorist limits for each insured vehicle are added together unless the named insured signs a waiver, a practice called stackingStacking. Adding together the uninsured or underinsured motorist limits for more than one vehicle or policy, where state law and the policy allow it. Glossary.
• Uninsured drivers on the road: the Insurance Information Institute estimates that 11.0% of Pennsylvania drivers were uninsured in 2023, compared with 15.4% nationally.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department answers questions and takes complaints about insurers at 877-881-6388.

Limited tort and full tort#

When you buy a policy, the named insured chooses a tort option for the people the policy covers. Full tort keeps your full right to sue. Under limited tort, you can still recover medical bills and other out-of-pocket losses, but not pain and suffering unless the injury is a serious injury. The law defines a serious injurySerious injury threshold. A rule in some no-fault states that lets you sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injury meets a legal definition of serious, or a dollar level of medical bills. Glossary as a personal injury resulting in death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement.

Three rules often matter:

1. The default is full tort. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705, full tort applies if the named insured never chose an option. Your declarations page shows which option you have.
2. Uninsured owners lose the choice. The owner of a registered private passenger vehicle who has no insurance is treated as having chosen limited tort.
3. Exceptions restore full tort. A person with limited tort can sue for pain and suffering as if they had full tort if the at-fault driver was convicted of, or accepted Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition for, driving under the influence in that crash; was driving a vehicle registered in another state; meant to injure someone; or had no insurance as the law requires. The same applies if you were hurt riding in a vehicle other than a private passenger vehicle.

After a crash in Pennsylvania#

Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3746, drivers must notify the nearest police office right away if anyone is hurt or killed, or a vehicle cannot be driven and needs towing. If police do not investigate such a crash, each driver must send a written report to PennDOT within 5 days.

If Pennsylvania State Police troopers investigated, a copy of the crash reportCrash report. The official report an officer writes after investigating a crash, with the drivers, vehicles, witnesses and the officer's notes. Glossary costs $22 and is available 15 days after the crash. If a local police department responded, ask the officer for the report number and ask that department for a copy. Read more about police reports.

Special rules in Pennsylvania#

Damage limits for government claims. Damages against a local agency, such as a city or township, cannot exceed $500,000 in total for one occurrence. Pain and suffering can be recovered from a local agency only for a death, or for a permanent loss of a bodily function, permanent disfigurement or permanent dismemberment with medical and dental bills over $1,500. Claims against the Commonwealth are capped at $250,000 for each plaintiff and $1,000,000 in total.

Settlement payments. Under Pennsylvania's court rules, once a defendant receives a signed releaseRelease. The document you sign when you settle. It usually ends your right to claim more for the same crash, so read it carefully. Glossary after settling a lawsuit, it has 20 days to pay, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.

Crashes on Pennsylvania roads#

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety counted 1,127 crash deaths in Pennsylvania in 2024, or 8.6 per 100,000 people, below the national rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people. Speeding was a factor in 39% of the state's crash deaths, and 39% happened on rural roads.

Finding a lawyer in Pennsylvania#

The Pennsylvania Bar Association runs the PBA Lawyer Referral Service at 800-932-0311 (option 2). It serves 47 of the state's 67 counties, and a first 30-minute consultation costs no more than $30. In Philadelphia, the city bar association runs its own service; see the Philadelphia guide. Before you hire anyone, look the lawyer up in the Disciplinary Board's attorney search, which shows contact details and disciplinary history. See lawyer referral services for questions to ask.