Filing a Car Accident Lawsuit in Connecticut

Connecticut runs a pure tort system, so recovering after a crash comes down to specific rules: a two-year filing deadline, a 51% comparative-fault line, required 25/50/25 coverage, and double or treble damages for reckless drivers. Here is what is actually true in Connecticut, cited to the statutes.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
Jun 5, 2026
6 min read

Filing a car accident lawsuit in Connecticut

Connecticut is a fault state. The driver who caused your crash, and their insurer, is responsible for the harm, and you keep the right to take the claim to court instead of being routed through a no-fault system. Connecticut repealed its no-fault law under Public Act 93-297, effective January 1, 1994, and has run a pure tort system ever since.1 Your recovery depends on proving another driver's negligence, and on a set of Connecticut rules with hard numbers attached. Drivers reported 103,489 crashes across the state in 2025,2 so this is well-traveled ground. The rules below are what decide whether a claim actually goes anywhere.

The deadline that ends most cases

The first fact worth writing down is the statute of limitations. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584, you have two years from the date the injury "is first sustained or discovered or in the exercise of reasonable care should have been discovered" to file suit, and no action may be brought "more than three years from the date of the act or omission complained of."3 The two-year discovery clock and the three-year outer limit work together. If you knew you were hurt the day of the crash, the two-year date controls. If an injury surfaced later, the discovery rule can move the start of the clock, but the three-year cap from the crash date is the ceiling. Miss it and the claim is gone, no matter how clear the other driver's fault.

That same statute covers damage to "real or personal property,"3 so the deadline to sue over a totaled or damaged vehicle runs on the same two-year and three-year track.

How fault splits the money

Connecticut uses modified comparative negligence. Under § 52-572h, your own carelessness does not bar recovery as long as your share of the fault "was not greater than the combined negligence" of the people you are suing.4 You can be up to 50 percent at fault and still recover. Cross to 51 percent and you get nothing. Whatever percentage of fault the jury assigns to you, your damages are "diminished in the proportion" of that percentage,4 so a $100,000 award with 30 percent fault on you becomes $70,000.

There is no cap on what you can recover in an ordinary crash case. Connecticut does not limit economic damages like medical bills and lost wages, and it does not limit noneconomic damages for pain and suffering, in a standard negligence claim. Punitive damages are the exception, and they work differently here than in most states. Under the common-law rule from Vandersluis v. Weil, punitive damages in Connecticut are limited to the plaintiff's litigation expenses, meaning attorney's fees less taxable costs, rather than an open-ended punishment figure.5

Connecticut law does hand crash victims one sharp tool. Under § 14-295, a jury "may award double or treble damages" if you specifically plead that the other driver acted "deliberately or with reckless disregard" in violating certain traffic laws, and that the violation was "a substantial factor" in causing the crash.6 The listed offenses include drunk driving under § 14-227a, reckless driving, speeding, and the distracted-driving law. It is a pleading you and your lawyer have to make on purpose, not an automatic add-on.

The insurance you will actually be dealing with

Every Connecticut driver has to carry at least 25/50/25 in liability coverage: $25,000 for bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-112.7 The Connecticut Insurance Department confirms those minimums and notes a driver may instead carry a $50,000 single limit covering bodily injury and property damage together.8

Connecticut also requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, the coverage that pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough of it. Section 38a-336 requires every auto policy to carry UM/UIM limits "not less than" the state minimums, and insurers must offer you UM/UIM up to twice your bodily injury limits.9 The Insurance Department sets the floor at 25/50.8 Because so many drivers carry only the minimum, this is often the coverage a seriously injured person ends up relying on.

One thing Connecticut does not have is mandatory personal injury protection. Since the 1994 repeal there is no state-required no-fault medical benefit with its own filing deadline.1 Medical payments coverage exists, but it is optional coverage you either bought or you didn't.

Phones, alcohol, and enhanced exposure

Connecticut bans handheld phone use and texting behind the wheel, and enforcement is primary, so an officer can stop a driver for that alone. The fines under § 14-296aa are $200 for a first violation, $375 for a second, and $625 for a third or subsequent violation.10 A driver who was on the phone can also face the enhanced double or treble damages under § 14-295, because the distracted-driving statute is on the § 14-295 list.6

If a bar or package store served the drunk driver who hit you, Connecticut's Dram Shop Act may give you a separate claim. Section 30-102 makes a seller who sells alcohol "to an intoxicated person" liable for the resulting injuries, but recovery is capped at $250,000 for any one injured person and $250,000 in the aggregate.11 The deadlines are short: written notice to the seller within 120 days of the injury, and suit within one year.11

If you were on a motorcycle

Connecticut's helmet law is partial. Under § 14-289g, only motorcycle operators and passengers under 18 have to wear DOT-conforming headgear, and the fine for violating it is at least $90.12 Riders 18 and older are not legally required to wear one, though going without can turn into an argument about your own share of fault. Lane splitting is not permitted in Connecticut.

Your vehicle, the report, and getting help

Damage to your car is part of the same claim and runs on the same § 52-584 deadline.3 If your vehicle was fairly new and lost market value even after a correct repair, that lost value can be its own line item. The Connecticut-specific rules for it are covered on the Connecticut diminished value page.

You will want the official crash report. The Connecticut State Police, under the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, post a free Accident Information Summary at accidents.despp.ct.gov for 30 days after a crash, and the full report carries a $16 search fee set by Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-10b, available roughly ten business days out or by mail on form DPS-96-C.13 The steps to pull one are on the Connecticut crash reports page.

None of this requires a lawyer to begin, but the two-year clock, the 51 percent fault line, and the double-or-treble pleading are the kind of details that are easy to get wrong on your own. If you want representation, you can compare options in the legal directory.

This is general information about Connecticut law, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. Connecticut Public Act 93-297 (1993), An Act Concerning Automobile Insurance Reform (repealed the state no-fault law effective January 1, 1994). https://www.cga.ct.gov/ps93/Act/pa/1993PA-00297-R00HB-05176-PA.htm

  2. thatcarhitme.com, Connecticut (Statewide) Crash Report, 2025 annual report. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/connecticut/statewide/2025-annual-report

  3. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584, Limitation of action for injury to person or property caused by negligence, misconduct or malpractice. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_926.htm#sec_52-584

  4. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572h, Negligence actions. Doctrines applicable. Liability of multiple tortfeasors for damages. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_925.htm#sec_52-572h

  5. Vandersluis v. Weil, 176 Conn. 353, 407 A.2d 982 (1978). https://law.justia.com/cases/connecticut/supreme-court/1978/176-conn-353-2.html

  6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-295, Double or treble damages for personal injury or property damage resulting from certain traffic violations. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm#sec_14-295

  7. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-112, Proof of financial responsibility; minimum liability amounts. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_246.htm#sec_14-112

  8. Connecticut Insurance Department, Auto Insurance consumer information. https://portal.ct.gov/cid/consumer-information-center/auto-insurance

  9. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-336, Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_700.htm#sec_38a-336

  10. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-296aa, Use of hand-held mobile telephones and mobile electronic devices by motor vehicle operators. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm#sec_14-296aa

  11. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 30-102, Dram Shop Act; liquor seller liable for damage by intoxicated person. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_545.htm#sec_30-102

  12. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-289g, Protective headgear for motorcycle or motor-driven cycle operators and passengers under eighteen years of age. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm#sec_14-289g

  13. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-10b (report search fee); Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Reports and Records FAQ and Accident Information Summaries portal (accidents.despp.ct.gov). https://portal.ct.gov/DESPP/Division-of-Emergency-Service-and-Public-Protection/Reports-and-Records/Frequently-Asked-Questions

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Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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