Filing a car accident lawsuit in Pennsylvania

Two Pennsylvania rules can decide your car accident case before anyone argues about who was careless: a hard two-year deadline to sue, and the tort option chosen when your auto policy was bought. Get either one wrong and a clear liability case can still collapse.

This page sticks to what's specific to Pennsylvania. The broader mechanics of any car accident claim are covered on the national guide this page sits under.

The two-year deadline to file

You have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit in Pennsylvania. That limit comes from 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2), which gives you two years to bring "an action to recover damages for injuries to the person" caused by another's negligence or wrongful act.¹ Damage to your vehicle carries the same two-year window under § 5524(7).¹ File a day late and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case, however obvious the other driver's fault.

Some situations change the math. A child's injury claim generally does not start running until the child turns 18. Claims against a government body carry extra requirements, covered below. When you are unsure, treat the crash date as day one and don't wait to talk to someone.

The tort option that shapes your case

Pennsylvania is a choice no-fault state, and the most important thing to check before filing is which tort option applies to you. Every auto policy sold here makes the buyer elect either full tort or limited tort under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705.²

Full tort keeps your right to sue an at-fault driver for everything, including pain and suffering. Limited tort trades that right for a cheaper premium. You can still recover medical bills and other out-of-pocket losses, but you generally cannot sue for pain and suffering.²

Limited tort has holes, and they come up constantly. The statute restores your full right to sue if you suffered a "serious injury" (death, serious impairment of a body function, or permanent serious disfigurement), if the at-fault driver was convicted of or accepted ARD for DUI, if that driver's vehicle was registered out of state, if the driver carried no financial responsibility, or if you were hurt in certain vehicles that are not private passenger cars.² So limited tort is a serious obstacle, though several common facts get you past it.

There is a default worth knowing. If the policyholder never signed an election, § 1705 presumes full tort.² The costly mistake is affirmatively choosing limited tort to shave the premium.

Your own coverage pays first

No matter who caused the crash, your own policy handles your first medical bills. Pennsylvania requires first-party medical benefits, often called PIP, on every policy, with a $5,000 statutory minimum paid regardless of fault under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1711.³ You can buy higher limits, but you cannot go without this coverage.

The insurer cannot stall. Under § 1716, a first-party benefit is overdue if it isn't paid within 30 days after the insurer gets reasonable proof of the amount, overdue benefits earn 12% annual interest, and an insurer that denied a claim without a reasonable basis can be ordered to pay your attorney fees too.⁴

Pennsylvania's minimum liability limits are low: 15/30/5, which is $15,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $30,000 per accident, and $5,000 for property damage, set through 75 Pa.C.S. § 1702.⁵ Those thin minimums are exactly why the next coverage matters.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

Because so many drivers carry only the state minimum, the coverage that often decides whether a serious injury actually gets paid is your own UM/UIM. Pennsylvania does not require you to buy it, but every insurer has to offer it, and you can reject it only by signing a specific written form under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1731.⁶ The form's wording is fixed by statute, and Pennsylvania courts throw out rejections that don't match it exactly.⁶ If your insurer can't produce a valid signed rejection, the coverage stays on your policy at your bodily injury limits.

How your share of fault changes the payout

Pennsylvania uses modified comparative negligence. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102(a), your damages drop by your percentage of fault, and you can still recover as long as your negligence was "not greater than" the combined fault of the drivers you're suing.⁷ So at 50% at fault you collect half; at 51% you collect nothing. That cliff is why the fight over dividing blame is frequently the whole case.

Suing a drunk or distracted driver

When a driver's conduct crosses into reckless indifference, punitive damages come into play. Pennsylvania courts have allowed them against drunk drivers since Focht v. Rabada, where the Superior Court held that driving under the influence, given its potential for harm, can amount to "outrageous conduct" and "a reckless indifference to the interests of others."⁸ Punitive damages sit on top of your compensatory recovery.

You may also have a claim against whoever over-served the driver. Pennsylvania's dram shop law, 47 P.S. § 4-497, lets an injured third person sue a bar, restaurant, or other licensee for off-premises harm caused by a patron who was "visibly intoxicated" when served.⁹ Proving the driver was visibly intoxicated at the moment of service is what makes that claim work.

Distraction is easier to pin down now. Since Paul Miller's Law took effect on June 5, 2025, holding or supporting a phone while driving is illegal statewide as a primary offense under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316.1.¹⁰ Police issued only warnings through June 5, 2026; citations carrying a $50 fine started the next day.¹⁰ A handheld-use citation is useful evidence of negligence in a civil case.

When the at-fault party is the government

Suing a public defendant follows different rules. Damages against a Commonwealth agency, such as a PennDOT truck or a state highway-design claim, are capped at $250,000 per plaintiff and $1,000,000 per occurrence, and punitive damages are barred, under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8528.¹¹ Claims against a local agency, meaning a city, county, township, or its employees, are capped at $500,000 total per occurrence under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8553.¹² None of these caps apply to an ordinary claim against a private driver, where Pennsylvania puts no cap on pain and suffering or other compensatory damages. Government claims also come with additional notice requirements, so it helps to identify a public defendant early.

Documenting the claim

Two records matter from the start. The investigating officer's crash report fixes the basic who and where; you can pull the Pennsylvania State Police report through our Pennsylvania crash reports guide. If your car was worth less after repairs than before the wreck, that gap is a separate claim you can pursue; see diminished value in Pennsylvania.

Once injuries are more than minor, the policy's tort election and the comparative-fault fight get hard to handle alone. You can find a Pennsylvania car accident attorney to read the policy language and the calendar before either one closes a door on your case.

This article is general information about Pennsylvania law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, Two year limitation (personal injury under (2); property under (7)). Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=42&div=0&chpt=55&sctn=24&subsctn=0

2. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705, Election of tort options. Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=75&div=0&chpt=17&sctn=5&subsctn=0

3. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1711, Required benefits. Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=75&div=0&chpt=17&sctn=11&subsctn=0

4. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716, Payment of benefits. Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=75&div=0&chpt=17&sctn=16&subsctn=0

5. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1702, Definitions (financial responsibility, 15/30/5 required limits). Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=75&div=0&chpt=17&sctn=2&subsctn=0

6. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1731, Availability, scope and amount of coverage (uninsured and underinsured motorist). Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=75&div=0&chpt=17&sctn=31&subsctn=0

7. 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102, Comparative negligence. Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=42&div=0&chpt=71&sctn=2&subsctn=0

8. Focht v. Rabada, 217 Pa. Super. 35, 268 A.2d 157 (Pa. Super. 1970). CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1935589/focht-v-rabada/

9. 47 P.S. § 4-497, Liquor Code, liability of licensees (dram shop). Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/unconsolidated/law-information/view-statute?SESSYR=1951&SESSIND=0&ACTNUM=021&SMTHLWIND=&CHPT=4&SCTN=497&SUBSCTN=

10. "Paul Miller's Law Effective June 5," Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT); codified at 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316.1. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/penndot/news-and-media/newsroom/statewide/2025/-paul-miller-s-law--effective-june-5

11. 42 Pa.C.S. § 8528, Limitations on damages (Commonwealth parties). Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=42&div=0&chpt=85&sctn=28&subsctn=0

12. 42 Pa.C.S. § 8553, Limitations on damages (local agencies). Pennsylvania General Assembly. https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=42&div=0&chpt=85&sctn=53&subsctn=0