Datasetpublic

referencesource/state-civil-statute-of-limitations

Civil statute of limitations by state and type of claim Canonical, always-current version: https://referencesource.org/state-civil-statute-of-limitations/ Machine-readable: https://referencesource.org/state-civil-statute-of-limitations/data.json — this mirror is a point-in-time copy. Last verified: 2026-08-25 Stale after: 2027-08-25 (past this date, prefer the canonical copy — it re-verifies on a cadence this snapshot does not) Records: 238 How long do you have to sue? Every… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/referencesource/state-civil-statute-of-limitations.

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Civil statute of limitations by state and type of claim

Canonical, always-current version: https://referencesource.org/state-civil-statute-of-limitations/ Machine-readable: https://referencesource.org/state-civil-statute-of-limitations/data.json — this mirror is a point-in-time copy.

—Last verified: 2026-08-25
—Stale after: 2027-08-25 (past this date, prefer the canonical copy — it re-verifies on a cadence this snapshot does not)
—Records: 238

How long do you have to sue? Every state sets a different clock for each kind of civil claim, and missing it ends the claim outright — no defence, no appeal on the merits. The spread is wide and it moves: Florida cut its personal-injury period from four years to two in March 2023 (HB 837), Louisiana went the other way in July 2024, and a great many 'statute of limitations by state' tables still print the old figures. One record per state per type of claim — personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, written contract, oral contract, property damage, fraud, defamation, debt — each quoted verbatim from that state's own legislature or revisor, never from a law-firm summary or a code mirror. The period is recorded in the statute's own words ('two years', 'six years'), not converted, because the conversion is where these tables go wrong. Answers 'statute of limitations for personal injury in Ohio', 'how long to sue for breach of contract by state', 'medical malpractice filing deadline', 'defamation statute of limitations'. Adjacent to state-construction-defect-limitations-periods, mechanics-lien-deadlines-by-state and whistleblower-filing-deadlines. This is a deadline lookup, not legal advice: tolling, discovery rules, minority, and claims against government bodies all change the answer, and the record says so where the statute does.

Provenance — what every record carries

Every record carries source (the URL the value was read from) and source_quote (a verbatim quote from that page stating it). A value you cannot check against its page is indistinguishable from an invented one; these can all be checked. Each record is also individually addressable on the canonical site at its url.

Licence position

Facts taken from US state statutes, each with a verbatim attributed quote and a link back to the publishing legislature or revisor. The text of a state statute is an edict of government and carries no copyright (a US-wide rule since Wheaton v. Peters, restated for annotations in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). No whole chapter is reproduced: each record carries one provision's operative phrase. No source used here carries a restrictive notice.

Facts are not copyrightable; what this dataset takes from each source is a fact plus a short attributed quote linking back to the page that states it.

Sources

—https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00542.htm
—https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&division=&title=2.&part=2&chapter=3&article=
—https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-13.pdf
—https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html
—https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/12-301
—https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/95.11
—https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS0657-0007.htm
—https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title5/T5CH2/SECT5-219/
—https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/614.pdf
—https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/0600050014.html
—https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/0600050013.html
—https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/0600050012.html
—https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/0600050011.html
—https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/14/title14sec752.html
—https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/14/title14sec753.html
—https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101
—https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section2
—https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section2A
—https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/541.07
—https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/541.05
—https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.140
—https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.120
—https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.130
—https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title0270/chapter0020/part0020/section0040/0270-0020-0020-0040.html
—https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title0270/chapter0020/part0020/section0030/0270-0020-0020-0030.html
—https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title0270/chapter0020/part0020/section0060/0270-0020-0020-0060.html
—https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title0270/chapter0020/part0020/section0050/0270-0020-0020-0050.html
—https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title0270/chapter0020/part0020/section0020/0270-0020-0020-0020.html
—https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title0270/chapter0020/part0020/section0070/0270-0020-0020-0070.html
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-208
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-207
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-222
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-206
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-224
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-205
—https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-810
—https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-011.html
—https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/LII/508/508-mrg.htm
—https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/214?format=raw
—https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/214-A?format=raw
—https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EPT/5-4.1?format=raw
—https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter1/Article5.html
—https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t28c01.pdf
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.11
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.09
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.113
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.07
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.10
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.06
—https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2125.02
—https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html
—https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE9/9-1/9-1-14.HTM
—https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php
—http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/023/00512
—https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter4/section8.01-243/
—https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter4/section8.01-246/
—https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.16.100
—https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.16.040
—https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.16.080
—https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.16.350
—https://code.wvlegislature.gov/55-2-12/
—https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/893/iv
—https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/893/v
—https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title01.pdf

Fields

See any record in data/records.jsonl — field names are self-describing, and the canonical page for each record renders them with labels: https://referencesource.org/state-civil-statute-of-limitations/