If you were hurt in a car accident in Oregon, one number matters more than any other: two. You generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, under ORS 12.110(1).1 Miss that window and the at-fault driver's insurer can ask a judge to throw the case out before anyone argues about fault or damages. But that two-year rule isn't the only clock running. Depending on who caused the crash and how the injury happened, Oregon layers shorter, stricter deadlines on top of it, and some of them close in a matter of months.
The two-year rule for injury claims
ORS 12.110(1) sets a two-year limit for "any injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract," which covers the ordinary car accident negligence claim: you were hurt because another driver ran a light, followed too close, or drove distracted.1 In practice, the clock starts on the day of the collision, since the injury and its cause are almost always obvious right away.
Oregon does recognize a discovery-based exception in narrower situations. The Oregon Supreme Court held in Berry v. Branner that a claim doesn't accrue until the injured person knew, or reasonably should have known, of the injury and who caused it.2 That principle is best documented in cases where the harm is hidden, like a surgical object left inside a patient, and courts apply it cautiously outside those facts. For a typical crash where you know you were hit and know it hurts, count on the clock starting the day of the wreck rather than counting on a later discovery date to bail you out.
Vehicle damage gets six years, not two
Claims for damage to your vehicle, rather than your body, run on a different and much longer statute: six years under ORS 12.080(4), which covers actions for "injuring personal property."3 That six-year window covers property damage claims separately from your injury claim. Insurers rarely let a straightforward vehicle damage claim sit for years, but if you're weighing whether to pursue a diminished value claim after the repair, you have far more room than the injury deadline suggests.
If the injured person is a minor
ORS 12.160 pauses the two-year clock for anyone who was under 18 when the crash happened, and for anyone with a disabling mental condition that keeps them from understanding their legal rights.4 The pause doesn't run forever: the extension is capped at five years, or one year after the person turns 18, whichever comes first. The same cap applies to the mental-condition tolling. A parent doesn't have to rush an unrepresented toddler's claim to court, but the deadline isn't indefinite either.
When a public vehicle or a public road is involved
This is where Oregon's rules depart sharply from the two-year headline number, and where claims get lost the most. If the crash involved a government-owned vehicle (a transit bus, a school bus, a city or county truck, a state trooper's cruiser) or was caused by a defect in a public road, the Oregon Tort Claims Act controls instead of the ordinary two-year rule.
Under ORS 30.275, you must deliver formal notice of your claim to the public body within 180 days of the crash, not two years.5 Wrongful death claims against a public body get a full year to give notice instead of 180 days. The notice period can stretch by up to 90 days if the injury itself, or minority, incompetency, or another incapacity, made it impossible to give notice sooner, but that's the only extension available. Even after proper notice, the lawsuit itself still has to be filed within two years of the crash.5 Miss the 180-day notice and the claim is generally gone well before the two-year mark ever arrives, regardless of how strong the underlying case is.
Fatal crashes: three years, with two exceptions
When a crash is fatal, the estate's personal representative generally has three years to bring a wrongful death claim, running from when the death was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, but never later than three years after the death itself, under ORS 30.020.6
Two things can shorten that. If a public body caused the fatal crash, the one-year notice and two-year suit deadlines under ORS 30.275 apply instead of the general three-year period.5 And if the death traces to a defective vehicle part, like a failed seatbelt or an airbag that didn't deploy, the Oregon Products Liability Act's own two-year deadline governs rather than the wrongful death statute, under ORS 30.905.7
Deadlines that aren't about the courthouse
Two other Oregon deadlines don't involve filing a lawsuit at all, but they can matter just as much to what you recover.
Your own no-fault PIP coverage, mandatory on every Oregon auto policy, only reimburses medical expenses incurred within two years of the crash, with wage-loss and funeral benefits running on their own separate windows, under ORS 742.520 and ORS 742.524.8 Treatment you get after that two-year mark won't count against the PIP medical benefit even though your injury lawsuit deadline hasn't necessarily run out.
And if the crash involved a driver who was served alcohol while visibly intoxicated, a dram shop claim against the bar or social host under ORS 471.565 requires written notice within 180 days of the crash, the same short fuse as the Tort Claims Act.9
Why waiting until the deadline is risky anyway
Oregon follows a modified comparative negligence rule: if you're found 51% or more at fault for the crash, you recover nothing, and below that threshold your award shrinks by your percentage of fault, under ORS 31.600.10 That makes early evidence valuable. Skid marks fade, dashcam footage gets overwritten, and witnesses move or forget. Pulling the official crash report and locking down your own account early gives you a much stronger position when an insurer tries to shift blame onto you months or years later.
If a government vehicle, a fatal outcome, a minor, or a dram shop angle is anywhere in your situation, don't plan around the two-year number. Several of Oregon's real deadlines close in months, not years. A licensed Oregon attorney can tell you which clock actually applies to your case and whether any of it has already started running.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
-
ORS 12.110, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html
-
Berry v. Branner, 245 Or 307, 421 P2d 996 (1966), Oregon Supreme Court. https://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/supreme-court/1966/245-or-307-0.html
-
ORS 12.080(4), Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html
-
ORS 12.160, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors012.html
-
ORS 30.275, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors030.html
-
ORS 30.020, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors030.html
-
ORS 30.905, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors030.html
-
ORS 742.520 and ORS 742.524, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors742.html
-
ORS 471.565, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors471.html
-
ORS 31.600, Oregon Revised Statutes. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors031.html