Personal Injury Laws in Connecticut: Deadlines, Fault Rules & Damages

In Connecticut, you generally have two years from the date you were injured (or reasonably should have discovered the injury) to file a personal injury lawsuit for negligence, and never more than three years from the date of the negligent act itself, under Connecticut General Statutes § 52-584. Miss that window and a Connecticut court will almost always dismiss your case, no matter how strong it is. Below is a plain-language walkthrough of Connecticut's core personal injury rules — deadlines, fault-sharing, damage limits, car insurance, and dog-bite liability — sourced to Connecticut statutes and state agencies, not commercial legal-marketing sites.

1. Connecticut's Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

For most personal injury claims — car accidents, slip-and-falls, product injuries, and medical malpractice — Connecticut General Statutes § 52-584 sets a two-year deadline from the date the injury was sustained or discovered (or reasonably should have been discovered). The statute also imposes an outer three-year statute of repose measured from the date of the negligent act or omission, so a very late discovery of an injury cannot push the deadline out indefinitely.

A separate, broader tort statute, § 52-577, sets a three-year deadline from the date of the act or omission for tort claims that don't fall under § 52-584 (for example, certain intentional torts). Some specific claim types have their own, shorter clocks — dog-bite claims and claims against government bodies are common examples covered below. Because Connecticut's legislature can amend these statutes, always confirm the current text at the Connecticut General Assembly's statute site or with a Connecticut attorney before assuming a deadline.

2. Shared Fault: Connecticut's 51% Modified Comparative Negligence Rule

Connecticut follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, codified at Connecticut General Statutes § 52-572h. Here's how it works in practice:

• If you are 50% or less at fault, you can still recover damages — but your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if a jury finds you were 20% responsible for a crash and awards $100,000 in damages, you collect $80,000.
• If your share of fault is greater than the combined fault of the parties you are suing (in a typical case, 51% or more), Connecticut law bars you from recovering anything.

This creates a hard cutoff: one percentage point can be the difference between a partial recovery and zero. Insurance adjusters routinely push to inflate a claimant's fault percentage past that line, so how fault gets allocated is often the single biggest fight in a Connecticut injury claim.

3. Damage Caps in Connecticut

Connecticut does not cap compensatory damages — economic (medical bills, lost wages) or non-economic (pain and suffering) — in ordinary personal injury or medical malpractice cases. Connecticut is one of the states without a statutory cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits, meaning a jury can award whatever amount the evidence supports.

Punitive damages are treated differently. Under a long-standing Connecticut common-law rule, punitive damages in most Connecticut tort cases are limited to the plaintiff's litigation expenses (attorney's fees and costs, minus taxable costs) rather than an amount meant purely to punish the defendant. There are statutory exceptions with different formulas — for instance, the Connecticut Product Liability Act (§ 52-240b) allows punitive damages up to double the compensatory award in qualifying product-defect cases. Because these rules are unusually specific to case type, confirm which rule applies to your situation with a Connecticut attorney rather than assuming a number.

4. Car Insurance in Connecticut: At-Fault (Tort) System

Connecticut is an at-fault (tort) insurance state, not a no-fault state. Connecticut repealed its prior no-fault/personal injury protection (PIP) system in the 1990s. Today, the driver who caused the crash (or their insurer) is generally responsible for the other driver's medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering — there is no mandatory PIP coverage to tap first.

Connecticut requires drivers to carry minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage (25/50/25), plus uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, per the Connecticut Insurance Department's requirements. Because you're pursuing the at-fault driver's insurer directly, and because Connecticut's comparative-fault rule can reduce or eliminate your recovery, documenting who caused the crash matters from day one.

5. Dog-Bite Rule in Connecticut: Strict Liability

Connecticut is a strict liability state for dog bites and other dog-caused injuries under Connecticut General Statutes § 22-357. That means an injured person generally does not need to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous ("one bite" negligence) or was careless — only that the person owned or kept the dog, the dog caused the injury, and the injured person was lawfully present at the time.

There are two statutory exceptions: the rule doesn't apply if the injured person was trespassing (or committing another tort) or was "teasing, tormenting, or abusing" the dog. Connecticut law also presumes that a child under age seven did not provoke the dog or trespass, which protects young bite victims from those defenses. Dog-bite claims fall under the general three-year tort deadline in § 52-577, separate from the two-year negligence deadline above — another reason to check which clock applies to your specific facts.

Shorter Deadlines for Claims Against the Government

If your injury involves a state or local government body, Connecticut's ordinary deadlines above generally do not apply, and the windows are much shorter and stricter:

• Claims against the State of Connecticut go through the Office of the Claims Commissioner, not directly to court. Under § 4-148, a notice of claim generally must be presented within one year after the claim accrues (with an outer three-year limit for injury/damage claims), and the Claims Commissioner must authorize a lawsuit before one can proceed. Details and forms are available from the Connecticut Office of the Claims Commissioner.
• Injuries from a defective town or city road, bridge, or sidewalk require written notice to the town clerk or a selectman within 90 days of the injury, under § 13a-149, in addition to the separate two-year filing deadline that statute sets for the lawsuit itself.
• Other claims against a municipality (for example, under the general municipal liability statute, § 52-557n) may carry their own notice rules depending on the facts — confirm the applicable notice period before assuming you have the standard two years.

These government notice deadlines run in parallel with, and are often far shorter than, the general two- and three-year deadlines above. Missing a 90-day or one-year notice window can end a claim before it starts, regardless of how much time is left on the general statute of limitations.

What to Do in Connecticut

1. Get medical care and document everything. Medical records tie your injuries to the incident and support both the discovery-rule analysis under § 52-584 and your damages claim.
2. Identify who may be responsible — another driver, a property owner, a dog owner, a government entity, or more than one party. This affects which statute of limitations and which notice rules apply.
3. If a government entity might be responsible, act fast. Notice requirements as short as 90 days (defective roads/sidewalks) or one year (state claims via the Claims Commissioner) can run out long before the general two- or three-year deadlines.
4. Keep insurance conversations factual. Because Connecticut's comparative-fault rule can wipe out your recovery entirely, avoid speculating about fault with an adjuster before you understand how fault will likely be allocated.
5. File in the right court. Connecticut personal injury lawsuits are generally filed in the Connecticut Superior Court for the judicial district where the incident occurred or where a party resides; check current filing rules on the Connecticut Judicial Branch website.
6. Confirm current deadlines before relying on this article. Verify the applicable statute of limitations and notice period on the Connecticut General Assembly's website or with a Connecticut attorney, since legislatures amend these laws over time.

This article is general information about Connecticut law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.