What’s the “statute of limitations” for Nevada injury lawsuits?

Two Years

In Nevada, the statute of limitations to bring a lawsuit in most personal injury cases is two (2) years from the date you discovered (or should have discovered) your injury. This is true whether you are suing an individual, a company, or the state or local government.

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

Nevada’s most common statute of limitation periods – from shortest to longest – are spelled out in this table:

Injury Type in Nevada	Statute of Limitations in Civil Cases  (after discovery of the injury)
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)
Asbestos exposure Recovery of property or taxes seized under protest	1 year
Defamation (slander / libel) False imprisonment Personal injury (caused by negligence) Sheriff action (or non-action) in their official duty Wrongful death	2 years
Medical malpractice (for injuries occurring on or after October 1, 2023)	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
Breach of oral contract Deceptive trade practice Merchant payment Products liability	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

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

• 1. Discovery Rule
• 2. Malpractice
• 3. Child Victims
• 4. Tolling
• 5. Expired Statute of Limitations
• Additional Reading

1. Discovery Rule

The statute of limitation to sue in a Nevada 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:

• internal bleeding,
• organ damage, and
• mesothelioma (asbestos poisoning), which can take decades to develop.³

2. Malpractice

Nevada’s statute of limitations to sue for malpractice depends on the particular profession.

Legal or Veterinary

If you are the victim of legal malpractice or veterinary malpractice, you can file suit by the earlier of:

• 4 years after you sustain damage; or
• 2 years after you discover — or should have discovered — the damage.⁴

Medical

If you are the victim of medical malpractice occurring on or after October 1, 2023, you can file suit by the earlier of:

• 3 years after the date of injury; or
• 2 years after you discover — or should have discovered — the injury.⁵

Accounting

If you are the victim of accounting malpractice, you can file suit by 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).

In child medical malpractice cases occurring on or after October 1, 2023, Nevada’s statute of limitations is within two years of discovering the injury, but there are exceptions:

• In the case of brain damage of a child or a birth defect, a lawsuit can be brought until the child turns 10;⁸ or
• In the case of sterility, a lawsuit can be brought until 2 years after the child discovers the injury.⁹

In child sexual abuse cases, there is no statute of limitations. However, 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

Finally, in child pornography cases, there is no statute of limitations.¹¹

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

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.

Additional Reading

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.

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