Race Against Time
My name’s Mike Ashworth and I would like to share some of the most common questions I get as a personal injury lawyer. This question I receive is extremely common. It’s one of the most important questions I get consistently asked. And many times I get phone calls about this and I have to give horrible, horrible answers because of something known as the statute of limitations.
This question came in from a contact. Is there a time limit to file a personal injury lawsuit in Oklahoma? The easy answer is yes. Are there exceptions? The more complicated answer is yes.
Most of what I do is based on an area of law known as negligence. Somebody had a duty, they breached that duty, there are damages that are measurable, and there’s causation that the duty breach of duty caused those damages. In negligence in Oklahoma, the statute of limitations is generally two years from the event. At the end of the two years, if you have not filed some claim of record in a court of your intent to pursue the claim after two years, that claim is extinguished, it’s gone.
Exceptions and Government Entities
Now, there are exceptions, and this is where it gets complicated. Let’s say, for example, the duty was held by a government entity, City of Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an Oklahoma hospital, State of Oklahoma Hospital, like OU. In that instance, then you have one year to file what is known as a Governmental Tort Claims Act Notice against the government. You have to do that within the one year. If you don’t, you lose those claims, even though you think you have a two-year statute of limitations.
So if it’s a government entity, move with all due haste to get a lawyer to handle that, and many lawyers will not, because it’s a little more complicated. We do handle those cases on a very, very limited basis.
Expanding the Statute of Limitations
Are there exceptions? I had a phone call today, coincidentally, that talks about that very thing. An individual called me about a surgical procedure they went through in 2019. Now, keep in mind, negligence, two-year statute of limitations. Well, 2019, four years ago, and it was against a government hospital. Is that person out of luck? Not necessarily.
Particularly in medical diagnosis cases, failure to diagnose, or in basically a malpractice situation where a procedure is done incorrectly or wasn’t even needed, things of that type. The statute of limitations can be expanded to the point you reasonably discovered that you had a medical claim.
So let’s say, for example, you have these nagging problems for three or four years from 2019. You don’t know what it is. You keep going in, keep going in, going in. Finally, someone does a procedure and says, oh, I know exactly what happened in 2019. They really messed up. That’s the first time, the bell goes off, ding. Now I understand. Under those circumstances, it’s possible the statute of limitation can be expanded, but it’s going to take extremely detailed and competent analysis.
Contact Us for a Free Consultation
So don’t sit on a claim. Don’t wait on a claim. As soon as these things happen to you, contact me, Mike Ashworth, TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.Pro, 918-924-5528. Even if it’s a situation that I don’t think I’m best equipped to handle because of the types of resources or people I know that have much more experience on that limited point, I’ll give you a referral and send you there because I want you to get the right match and fit for your problems and aches.
