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Two deadlines are running. Almost nobody tells you about the second one.

You probably have years to file a truck accident lawsuit. You may have weeks before the driver logs, camera footage and engine data that prove what happened are legally destroyed. Answer five questions and see both dates.

Check both of your deadlines

Five questions. Nothing is sent anywhere — this runs on your device.

Why the evidence deadline is shorter than you think

Almost everything that proves what a truck driver was doing before a crash is held by the trucking company, and almost all of it is on a clock that has nothing to do with your right to sue.

Driver logs. Federal law requires a motor carrier to keep a driver's record of duty status — the hours-of-service record — for 6 months. After that, destroying it is lawful. That record is how you find out whether the driver had been at the wheel for eleven hours or for sixteen.

Camera footage. Forward-facing and driver-facing video usually sits on a rolling loop. Thirty days is common. Some fleets keep a week. Unless somebody asks for it, the file that shows the truck drifting across the line is overwritten by ordinary operation.

Engine data. The engine control module records speed, throttle and braking in the seconds before impact. There is no retention rule at all. It goes when the tractor is repaired, when the module is re-flashed, when the truck is sold, or when it simply goes back into service.

None of this is a conspiracy. It is a filing cabinet being emptied on schedule. But it produces a situation that almost nobody warns people about: in a state that gives you three years to file, you can be two years and nine months inside your legal deadline and have nothing left to prove your case with.

There is one thing that stops it. A preservation letter — a spoliation letter — sent to the carrier and its insurer puts them on notice that specific categories of evidence are relevant to a claim. Once that letter lands, destroying the material stops being routine and starts being a problem for them. Until it lands, the clocks keep running.

What to do in the next seven days

In order. The first two matter most, and the second one is the one almost nobody does in time.

  1. Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer

    You are not required to. What you say while you are still in pain and still learning the extent of your injuries can be used later to reduce or defeat the claim.

  2. Ask, in writing, that the evidence be preserved

    A preservation letter to the carrier and its insurer stops the retention clocks from mattering. This is the most time-sensitive step on the list.

  3. Do not let the truck be repaired or sold before it is inspected

    Once the tractor is repaired or returned to service, the engine module data and the physical condition of the brakes and tyres are generally gone.

  4. Get the police report

    It carries the carrier name, the USDOT number and the insurer — the details a preservation letter needs in order to reach the right company.

  5. Photograph the injuries now, and keep photographing them

    Bruising, swelling and surgical sites change within days. That progression cannot be recreated later.

  6. Write down what you remember today

    Weather, the position of the truck, what you heard, who stopped, what was said. A contemporaneous note carries weight a later recollection does not.

  7. Keep every medical record and every bill

    Including the ones that seem trivial. Gaps in treatment are the most common argument used to reduce a claim.

Filing deadlines in every state

Pick a state for its own rules, its statute citations and the specific traps in that jurisdiction. The government notice column shows the shortest window in that state — several states run different clocks for state agencies and for cities.

Filing deadlines by jurisdiction. The last column is federal and does not vary by state — it is the minimum period a motor carrier must keep the driver's logs (49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1); supporting documents 49 C.F.R. § 395.11(f)). Every figure here is awaiting attorney verification.
Jurisdiction Injury claim Wrongful death Government notice Driver logs kept
Alabama 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Alaska 2 years 2 years 2 years 180 days
Arizona 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Arkansas 3 years 3 years 1 year 180 days
California 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Colorado 3 years 2 years 182 days 180 days
Connecticut 2 years 2 years 90 days 180 days
Delaware 2 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Washington, D.C. 3 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Florida 2 years 2 years 3 years 180 days
Georgia 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Hawaii 2 years 2 years 2 years 180 days
Idaho 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Illinois 2 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Indiana 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Iowa 2 years 2 years 2 years 180 days
Kansas 2 years 2 years 120 days 180 days
Kentucky 2 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Louisiana 2 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Maine 6 years 3 years 180 days 180 days
Maryland 3 years 3 years 1 year 180 days
Massachusetts 3 years 3 years 2 years 180 days
Michigan 3 years 3 years 120 days 180 days
Minnesota 6 years 3 years 180 days 180 days
Mississippi 3 years 3 years 90 days 180 days
Missouri 5 years 3 years 90 days 180 days
Montana 3 years 3 years 2 years 180 days
Nebraska 4 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Nevada 2 years 2 years 2 years 180 days
New Hampshire 3 years 3 years 180 days 180 days
New Jersey 2 years 2 years 90 days 180 days
New Mexico 3 years 3 years 90 days 180 days
New York 3 years 2 years 90 days 180 days
North Carolina 3 years 2 years 3 years 180 days
North Dakota 6 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Ohio 2 years 2 years 2 years 180 days
Oklahoma 2 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Oregon 2 years 3 years 180 days 180 days
Pennsylvania 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Rhode Island 3 years 3 years 3 years 180 days
South Carolina 3 years 3 years 2 years 180 days
South Dakota 3 years 3 years 180 days 180 days
Tennessee 1 year 1 year 1 year 180 days
Texas 2 years 2 years 45 days 180 days
Utah 4 years 2 years 1 year 180 days
Vermont 3 years 2 years 3 years 180 days
Virginia 2 years 2 years 180 days 180 days
Washington 3 years 3 years 60 days 180 days
West Virginia 2 years 2 years 2 years 180 days
Wisconsin 3 years 3 years 120 days 180 days
Wyoming 4 years 2 years 2 years 180 days

State pages

Questions people ask

Is there a deadline to file a truck accident claim?

Yes. Every state sets a statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit, ranging from one year to six depending on the state. A claim filed after that deadline is normally barred no matter how strong it is.

In a truck case there is also a second, much shorter deadline that most people never hear about: the point at which the trucking company is legally free to destroy the driver logs, camera footage and engine data that prove what happened.

How long does a trucking company have to keep the driver’s logs?

Six months. Federal regulation 49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1) requires a motor carrier to retain each driver's records of duty status, and the supporting documents behind them, for six months from receipt. After six months the carrier can lawfully destroy them.

Those records are how you establish whether the driver had been at the wheel for eleven hours or for sixteen — which is frequently the whole case.

What is a spoliation letter, and why does it matter so much?

A spoliation letter — also called a preservation letter or a litigation hold — is a written demand to the trucking company and its insurer that identifies specific categories of evidence and requires that they be preserved.

It matters because retention schedules stop being routine once a carrier is on notice that the material is relevant to a claim. Until that letter is served, lawful destruction keeps running on schedule. This is the single most time-sensitive step after a truck crash and it is the one most often taken too late.

What happens if a government truck was involved?

A separate and much shorter deadline usually applies. Most states require written notice to the government entity before a lawsuit can be filed — commonly within 45 to 180 days of the crash. Missing that notice normally bars the claim entirely, regardless of the ordinary statute of limitations.

A federal vehicle is different again. A USPS truck, a VA vehicle or another federal agency vehicle runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act: an administrative claim on Standard Form 95 within two years of the crash, then six months to sue after it is denied.

If you are not certain whether the vehicle was government-owned, the calculator above will show you the shorter deadline. That is deliberate — serving a notice you turn out not to have needed costs you nothing.

Does a death in the crash change the deadline?

Usually yes. Wrongful death runs on its own clock, which in many states is a different length from the personal injury period, and which is frequently measured from the date of death rather than the date of the crash.

In several states the wrongful death period is shorter than the injury period. North Dakota gives six years for injury and two for wrongful death. Maine gives six and three. A family reading the headline number for their state can easily be reading the wrong one.

Does a child get longer to file?

In most states the limitation period is tolled during minority — it does not begin to run until the injured person turns 18. But several states cap how far tolling can extend the deadline, and some give only a short fixed window after the 18th birthday rather than the full period.

More importantly: tolling does nothing for the evidence. The driver logs are destroyed on the ordinary six-month schedule whether the injured person is eight or eighty. A claim that legally survives until a child's twentieth birthday can have no proof left behind it.

What if my deadline has already passed?

Do not assume the claim is over, and do not take that from a web page.

Tolling doctrines can pause a deadline — for minority, for incapacity, for a defendant who left the state, for fraudulent concealment of who was responsible. Discovery rules can move the start date to when the injury or its cause was reasonably discoverable rather than the date of the crash. And a claim against a different party may be on a different clock: the carrier, the broker, the shipper, a parts manufacturer and the driver are not always on the same one.

This tool applies the general rule for a state. It does not know the facts of your case. Have someone look at the actual dates.

Does this calculator send my information anywhere?

No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, on your device. The state, the dates and your answers are never transmitted anywhere.

The only information that leaves your device is what you type into the case review form and choose to send. If you close this page without doing that, nothing has been shared.

Have someone confirm these dates

The figures on this page are the general rule. They are not advice, and they do not know the facts of your case — who owned the trailer, whether a broker was involved, whether the driver was an employee or an owner-operator, whether any of that changes which deadline applies to which party.

A free case review answers that, and it starts the preservation letter, which is the only thing on this page that actually stops a clock.

Start a free case review

Free, and no fee unless you win. You can send this at any hour; a callback goes out within permitted calling hours. Using this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.