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    Personal Injury Division

    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

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

    Judge holding a gavel

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

    1. Discovery rule

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

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

    Therefore, the statute of limitation to sue in a personal injury case does not begin running until:

    • you discover your injury, or
    • you should have discovered that you were injured,

    whichever occurs earlier.

    The discovery rule is very important because many injuries do not manifest until days, weeks, or longer after an accident happens. As long as you are unaware of your injury and could not have reasonably discovered it earlier, the statute of limitation tolls.

    Example: On January 1, Tom slips and falls on a spilled drink at a Las Vegas casino. He feels fine but starts to experience leg pain several days later. On January 15 he gets diagnosed with a hairline fracture that his doctor believes resulted from his slip-and-fall. His two-year statute of limitations begins on January 15 because that is when he discovered his injury.

    Other examples of injuries that commonly do not appear right away include:

    2. Malpractice

    Nevada’s statute of limitations to sue for malpractice depends on the type of malpractice:

    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. Child victims

    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. Tolling

    As discussed in prior sections, the “discovery rule” or being a minor child can toll the statute of limitations in Nevada personal injury cases. Five other reasons why the time limit to bring a claim may be paused are as follows:

    1. 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
    2. Out-of-state defendant: The time limit to sue in Nevada does not run while the defendant is outside of Nevada.13
    3. 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
    4. 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
    5. 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

    5. Expired statute of limitations

    If you believe the statute of limitations in your case expired, contact an attorney. There may be circumstances that caused the statute of limitations to toll, and you can still sue.

    For instance, 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. As discussed above, the discovery rule tolls the statute of limitations until you discovered (or should have discovered) your injury.17

    Example: Betty feels terrible after her appendectomy, but her surgeon says everything looks fine. Two years post-surgery Betty goes to the ER in pain, where the doctor finds scissors that the surgeon left in her abdomen. Betty sues right away.

    The surgeon claims Betty’s lawsuit is “stale” because two years have passed since the operation. However, Betty only just discovered the injury since she took her surgeon’s word that everything was fine. Therefore, the statute of limitations did not start running until Betty discovered the scissors.

    6. Common statutes of limitations

    The most common Nevada limitation periods are:

    Injury type in Nevada

    Statute of limitations in civil cases 

    (after discovery of the injury)
    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)
    • Asbestos exposure
    • Recovery of property or taxes seized under protest
    		 1 year
    2 years
    2 years with the discovery rule, but no longer than 3 years
    • Other professional malpractice
    		 2 years with the discovery rule, but no longer than 4 years
    • Fraud
    • Property damage
    		 3 years
    4 years
    • Breach of written contract
    • Construction defect (injury or death)
    		 6 years
    • Personal injury from sexual assault on a victim 18 or older
    		 Anytime

    Additional reading

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

    Legal references:

    1. NRS 11.190; Milton v. Nev. Dep’t of Prisons (2003) 119 Nev. 163 (“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).
    2. Nevada Revised Statute 11.010.
    3. See NRS 11.190(3). Petersen v. Bruen (1990) 106 Nev. 271.
    4. NRS 11.207(1).
    5. NRS 41A.097(2). AB 404 (2023).
    6. NRS 11.2075 (1).
    7. NRS 11.250; Smith v. Reno (D. Nev. 1984) 580 F. Supp. 591.
    8. NRS 41A.097(4)(a).
    9. NRS 41A.097(4)(b). See note 5.
    10. NRS 11.215(1). SB 203 (2021).
    11. NRS 11.215 (2); See also NRS 41.1396. Same.
    12. NRS 11.207 (2); NRS 11.2075 (2).
    13. NRS 11.300.
    14. NRS 11.310.
    15. NRS 11.330.
    16. NRS 11.340.
    17. See, for example, Petersen v. Bruen (1990) 106 Nev. 271.

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