A city, town, county, or state government can be held responsible when it causes injuries, just as any normal person or business can be held liable. However, unlike normal personal injury lawsuits, there are rigid steps to follow and deadlines to meet for an injury claim against the government. Failure to follow these steps or meet a time deadline can sink your injury claim. Here are the main differences and rules you'll need to watch out for.
In ordinary cases, you need to worry about the statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit. The statute of limitations is a legal term that describes the period of time in which you must file a lawsuit or bring an injury claim after your injuries. This period of time typically ranges anywhere from one to six years.
But, when suing the state or local government, there are often strict time limits for bringing your injury claim. Some jurisdictions require that you file a claim within 30 days of your injury. Other states require a claim within 60, 90, or 120 days after your injury. Many states have one time limit for claims against a city, town, county, or municipality, and another for claims against the state or a state agency. However, not all states have a government-specific time limitation, and you may only need to be aware of the general statute of limitation for your injury. You can find the rules for each state in our personal injury state laws section. (Opens in a new window. You'll find the time limits listed under the general statute of limitations, or under "Claims Against the Government".)
In most states, you cannot simply file a lawsuit in court against the government. Instead, you need to provide a "Notice of Claim" to the government. If you do not follow notice of claim guidelines, your lawsuit will be dismissed by the court. You must ensure that the Notice of Claim complies with laws of the applicable jurisdiction.
Format of the Notice of Claim. In most jurisdictions, the Notice of Claim must be addressed to each person or entity that caused your injuries. The Notice of Claim is not filed with the court, but must be mailed (often by certified mail) to each government employee or entity. The notice may also need to be mailed to a single government agency that receives all Notice of Claim forms. In Florida, every Notice of Claim must be mailed to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
There is specific information that must be included in the notice. For example, in Pennsylvania, the notice must have the name and address of the injured person, the date, location, and hour of the accident, and the name and address of medical care providers. See this sample claim to get an idea of what it might look like, or see Making an Injury Claim Against the Government for an overview.
Notice of Claim Period. After sending the Notice of Claim to each person or entity, you must wait for a period of time before filing a lawsuit in court. This period is typically between 30 and 120 days. The court will dismiss a lawsuit that is filed before the Notice of Claim period expires.
The government is immune from certain injury claims. While this immunity is less broad than in the past, the government is still immune from many injury claims. Again, this immunity (often referred to as "Sovereign Immunity") varies from state to state. Let's take a look at the government immunity laws of two states.
In Illinois, there are several governmental immunities related to negligence claims. Under Illinois Law, the government is immune from lawsuit for negligence for:
In Pennsylvania, governmental employees and entities also enjoy certain immunities from liability. These immunities relate to:
Most states will not allow injured persons to recover punitive damages from the government. Punitive damages are compensation that is awarded to an injured person in order to punish the wrongdoer and deter future similar misconduct. The rationale behind this policy (against punitive damages in these cases) is that, where the government is involved, punitive damages would not have the same deterrent effect.
To learn more about these special types of cases, see our section on Injury Claims Against Government Entities.