Filing a Car Accident Lawsuit in Oregon

In Oregon you have two years to file a car accident injury lawsuit, and the 51 percent fault rule plus mandatory PIP shape what you can recover. Here are the exact Oregon statutes, deadlines, and dollar limits that control the claim.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
Jun 20, 2026
6 min read

If another driver hurt you on an Oregon road, most of what happens next is governed by state rules rather than the general advice on a national page. The deadlines, the way fault gets divided, and the money your own policy owes you before anyone proves who caused the crash are all set by Oregon statute. Here is what actually controls a car accident claim filed in Oregon.

The two-year deadline you cannot miss

You have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit over your injuries. That limit comes from ORS 12.110(1), which sets a two-year window for "any injury to the person or rights of another" that does not arise from a contract.1 If you file even a day late, an Oregon court will almost certainly dismiss the case no matter how obvious the other driver's fault was.

Damage to your car runs on a separate, longer clock. Injury to personal property, which includes vehicle damage, has a six-year limit under ORS 12.080(4).2 The property deadline outlasts the injury deadline by four years, so a claim for repairs or diminished value stays open long after the injury claim closes. Do not let the longer window lull you into missing the two-year one.

PIP pays first, and you can still sue

Oregon runs on an at-fault system, and it also requires every private passenger auto policy to include personal injury protection (PIP).3 That combination trips people up, because PIP is a mandatory add-on, not the no-fault threshold that some other states use. It pays your early bills regardless of who was to blame. Under ORS 742.524, the minimum package is $15,000 in medical benefits for expenses incurred within two years of the crash, 70 percent of lost wages up to $3,000 a month for as long as 52 weeks, and a $5,000 funeral benefit.4

Because PIP does not work as a no-fault threshold, you do not have to clear an injury-severity bar before you can sue the at-fault driver. You can bring a full liability claim for everything PIP does not cover, including pain and suffering. Your PIP insurer will often seek reimbursement out of your eventual recovery, so the two systems interact, and sorting out that overlap is a large part of what a lawyer does on these cases.

The 51 percent rule decides whether you collect

Oregon follows modified comparative negligence. Under ORS 31.600, your own share of fault reduces your recovery, and if you are found 51 percent or more at fault you recover nothing.5 At 50 percent or less you still collect, reduced by your percentage. A $100,000 award with 30 percent of the blame on you becomes $70,000. Everything can turn on one point between 50 and 51, which is why insurers work so hard to shift the majority of fault onto you, and why the crash report, witness accounts, and physical evidence matter from the first day.

What you can recover, and the cap that no longer bites

Both economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, and future care) and noneconomic damages (pain, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment) are recoverable. Oregon has a statutory $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages in ORS 31.710, but the Oregon Supreme Court held that cap unconstitutional as applied to a common-law negligence claim in Busch v. McInnis Waste Systems, Inc. (2020).6 In an ordinary car crash injury case, that means a jury's award for pain and suffering is not automatically cut down to $500,000.

Punitive damages exist but are hard to win. You need clear and convincing evidence of reckless and outrageous conduct, the sort a drunk driver's choices can supply. Even then you do not keep the full amount. Under ORS 31.735, 60 percent of any punitive award goes to the state's Criminal Injuries Compensation Account, the plaintiff keeps 30 percent, and 10 percent goes to a state court account.7

The coverage behind the claim

Every Oregon driver must carry at least 25/50/20 in liability coverage: $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $20,000 for property damage, under ORS 806.070(2).8 Those are legal floors, and they are low. A single serious injury can blow past them quickly.

That is where your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage does the heavy lifting. Oregon requires UM/UIM on every auto liability policy, and by default those limits must equal your bodily injury liability limits unless you signed a written election for lower limits within 60 days, under ORS 742.502.9 If the driver who hit you had no insurance or only the state minimum, your UM/UIM coverage may be the realistic source of payment. It is worth checking your own declarations page, because a lot of people never realize they signed away the higher limits.

When a third party shares the blame

Sometimes the driver is not the only one who owes you. If a bar, restaurant, or social host served alcohol to someone who was visibly intoxicated and that person then caused your crash, Oregon's dram shop statute can reach the server. ORS 471.565 allows that claim, but it carries a strict trap: you must give the server written notice of the claim within 180 days.10 Miss the 180-day notice and the dram shop claim disappears, even though your two-year deadline against the driver is still open.

Distracted driving is another common thread. Holding or using a phone while driving, including while stopped in traffic, violates ORS 811.507. It is a primary offense, meaning an officer can stop a driver for that alone, and a first offense is a Class B traffic violation with a presumptive fine of $265 and a maximum of $1,000.11 A citation like that can be strong evidence that the other driver breached the standard of care owed to you.

Putting the claim together

Practical steps carry a lot of weight here. Get the police crash report, keep every medical record and PIP statement, and photograph your vehicle before repairs if a diminished value claim is in play. Because the 51 percent rule and PIP reimbursement can quietly shrink what you take home, most Oregonians with more than a minor claim speak to a lawyer before dealing directly with the insurer. You can find one through the legal directory.

Oregon's rules are specific, and the two-year injury deadline and the 180-day dram shop notice both run whether or not you know about them. Marking those dates early is the simplest thing you can do to protect the claim.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. ORS 12.110(1), Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html

  2. ORS 12.080(4), Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html

  3. ORS 742.520, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html

  4. ORS 742.524, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html

  5. ORS 31.600, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html

  6. Busch v. McInnis Waste Systems, Inc., 366 Or 628, 468 P3d 419 (2020). https://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/supreme-court/2020/s066098.html

  7. ORS 31.735, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html

  8. ORS 806.070(2), Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors806.html

  9. ORS 742.502, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html

  10. ORS 471.565, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html

  11. Oregon Dept. of Transportation, Distracted Driving (ORS 811.507). https://www.oregon.gov/odot/safety/pages/distracted.aspx

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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