What's the "statute of limitations" for Nevada injury lawsuits?

Two Years

In Nevada, the statute of limitations for most personal injury cases is two (2) years from the date that you discovered (or should have discovered) the injury. This is the window of time in which you are permitted to bring a lawsuit.

Once the statute of limitations passes, you may lose your right to sue for damages arising from that wrongdoing or injury. ¹ However, there are many situations where a statute of limitations gets “tolled” (suspended) until long after your injury occurred.²

The most common Nevada limitation periods are:

Injury type in Nevada	Statute of limitations in civil cases (after discovery of the injury)
Personal injury (caused by negligence in Nevada)	2 years
Personal injury from sexual assault on a victim 18 or older	Anytime
Property damage	3 years
Wrongful death in Nevada	2 years
Defamation (slander / libel) in Nevada	2 years
Products liability in Nevada	4 years
False imprisonment	2 years
Fraud	3 years
Medical malpractice in Nevada	2 years (3 years max) for injuries occurring on or after October 1, 2023
Other malpractice	2 years (4 years max)
Asbestos exposure	1 year
Construction defect (injury or death)	6 years
Breach of oral contract	4 years
Breach of written contract	6 years
Workers’ compensation	90 days after the accident, or 1 year after the worker’s death (workers have only 7 days to notify their employer of an accident)

To help you better understand the law, our Nevada personal injury lawyers discuss the following below:

You have a limited time period to sue for your injuries in Nevada.

1. What is the time limit to bring an injury lawsuit in Nevada?

Most Nevada personal injury claims have a two-year statute of limitations.

However, the statute of limitations usually does not start to run until you knew — or should have known — of the injury. This is important since many injuries do not appear until well after the accident.

For instance, mesothelioma (asbestos poisoning) injuries in Nevada often do not show up for many decades after exposure to asbestos. In such cases, it is common for lawsuits to be filed years — or even decades — after the harm occurred.³

2. What is the limitations period for malpractice claims?

Malpractice Claim	Time limit to sue in Nevada
Legal malpractice in Nevada, or Veterinary malpractice	The earlier of: 4 years after the plaintiff sustains damage; or 2 years after the plaintiff discovers — or should have discovered — the damage.⁴
Medical malpractice occurring on or after October 1, 2023	The earlier of: 3 years after the date of injury; or 2 years after the plaintiff discovers — or should have discovered — the injury.⁵
Accounting Malpractice	The earliest of: 2 years after the date the alleged wrong is discovered — or should have been discovered; 4 years after the unlawful accounting service has ended; or 4 years after the date of the initial issuance of the report prepared by the accountant regarding the financial statements or other information.⁶

3. Are there special rules for injuries to minor children?

Nevada’s statute of limitations is usually “tolled” (suspended) while you are under the age of 18, except in medical malpractice cases.⁷ Tolling acts as a sort of legal “time-out.”

Example: 12-year-old Dee Dee and her mother are injured by a drunk driver. Dee Dee’s mother has two years from the accident to sue the drunk driver. Though Dee Dee can sue until she is 20 (two years after she turns 18).

The chart below spells out the time limits to sue in certain types of lawsuits involving minors:

Claims involving a child victim	Statute of Limitations under Nevada state law
Medical malpractice (for injuries occurring on or after October 1, 2023)	Within 2 years of discovering the injury, but there are exceptions: In the case of brain damage of a child or a birth defect, until the child turns 10;⁸ or In the case of sterility, until 2 years after the child discovers the injury⁹
Sexual abuse	Anytime (Plaintiffs have 20 years after turning 18 to sue people who were not the perpetrators of the sexual abuse but who benefited from it.)¹⁰
Pornography	Anytime¹¹

See our related article, Tolling of statute of limitations for minors in Nevada.

Cartoon of a hand circling a date on a calendar - most personal injury claims in Nevada have a 2-year statute of limitations

Tolling acts as a sort of legal “time-out.

4. When else is the limitation period “tolled”?

Below are five reasons in Nevada why the time limit to bring a claim may be paused:

Legal, veterinary, or accounting malpractice: The statute of limitations does not run while an attorney, veterinarian, or accountant conceals any unlawful act, and you did not know — or should have known — about it.¹²
Out-of-state defendant: The time limit to sue in Nevada does not run while the defendant is outside of Nevada.¹³
Death of the injured party: A person’s estate usually has one year after that person’s death to bring a claim as long as the statute of limitations was still running when they died.¹⁴
Party is a citizen of a country the U.S. is at war with: The time limit to sue tolls when one of the parties to a lawsuit is a citizen of a country that the U.S. is currently at war with.¹⁵
Reversal of judgment: When a court case gets overturned, any claims arising out of that reversal must be brought within one year of the reversal.¹⁶

Also, scroll down to section 6 to learn how the “discovery rule” may toll the time limit to sue.

5. Can I do anything if the limitation period has expired?

You may have more time to file suit if your attorney can argue that the defendant’s negligent actions violated a verbal contract. The time limit to sue for breach of a verbal contract is four years, which is twice as long as the statute of limitations for negligence claims.¹⁷

Additionally, you may be legally entitled to extra time to file suit if fraud or a reasonable mistake kept you from discovering the facts in your case. Scroll down to the next section to learn how the “discovery rule” doctrine can extend the time limits to sue.

6. What is Nevada’s “discovery rule”?

Also known as the “inquiry notice doctrine,” the discovery rule extends the time limit to sue if:

The nature of the legal claim was somehow hidden from you,
You did not purposely or negligently avoid discovering the claim, and
It would be only fair to let you have more time to file the claim¹⁹

Example: Helen’s friend steals $1,000 out of her safe while Helen is abroad for a year. Helen’s time limit to sue her friend would not begin running until she discovers the missing money — not when the actual theft occurred.

Additional resources

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

Historical Abuse and the Statute of Limitations – Statute Law Review.
Contribution among Tortfeasors: The Effects of Statutes of Limitations and Other Time Limitations – Oklahoma Law Review.
Statutes of limitations for accident cases: Theory and evidence – Research in Law and Economics.
Statutes of Limitations and the Discovery Rule in Latent Injury Claims: An Exception or the Law – University of Pittsburgh Law Review.
Civil Rights – Statute of Limitations – State Limitation Period for Personal Injury Actions Applies to All Section 1983 Claims – Seton Hall Law Review.

Legal references:

NRS 11.190; Milton v. Nev. Dep’t of Prisons, 119 Nev. 163, 68 P.3d 895 (2003)(“NRS 11.190(4)(e) requires that actions seeking damages for personal injuries must be brought within two years from the date upon which the cause of action arises.”). See also SB 129 (2023)(re. SOL for sexual assault of adults).
Nevada Revised Statute 11.010.
See NRS 11.190(3)
NRS 11.207(1).
NRS 41A.097(2). AB 404 (2023).
NRS 11.2075 (1).
NRS 11.250; Smith v. Reno, 580 F. Supp. 591(D. Nev. 1984)
NRS 41A.097(4)(a).
NRS 41A.097(4)(b). See note 5.
NRS 11.215(1). SB 203 (2021).
NRS 11.215 (2); See also NRS 41.1396. Same.
NRS 11.207 (2); NRS 11.2075 (2).
NRS 11.300.
NRS 11.310.
NRS 11.330.
NRS 11.340.
NRS 11.190 (2).
Petersen v. Bruen, 792 P.2d 18, 106 Nev. 271, (1990)

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