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

In Indiana, you generally have two (2) years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit for negligence claims such as car accidents, slip-and-falls, and most medical malpractice — under Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4. Miss that window and, with rare exceptions, an Indiana court will dismiss your case no matter how strong it is. Below is a direct rundown of Indiana's core injury-law rules, followed by what to actually do next.

Indiana's Personal Injury Statute of Limitations: 2 Years

Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4 sets a two-year limitation period for actions for "injury to person or character." This is the general deadline that applies to car and truck crashes, slip-and-falls, dog bites, and most other negligence-based injury claims. The clock generally starts on the date of the injury, though Indiana courts apply a "discovery rule" in some cases — meaning the two years can start when you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury, rather than the date of the underlying event.

• Minors and legal disability: Under Indiana Code § 34-11-6-1, if the injured person is a minor or under a legal disability, the clock generally does not start running until the disability ends (for example, until the person turns 18).
• Medical malpractice: Governed by the separate Indiana Medical Malpractice Act (Indiana Code Article 34-18), also generally a two-year period, but claims must first go through a proposed complaint and medical review panel rather than straight to court.
• Wrongful death: Indiana's Wrongful Death Act (Indiana Code § 34-23-1-1) carries its own two-year period, measured from the date of death.

Because deadlines and exceptions can turn on the specific facts of your injury, confirm the current text of Indiana Code Title 34, Article 11 or talk with an Indiana attorney before assuming how much time you have left.

Shared Fault in Indiana: The 51% Bar Rule

Indiana follows modified comparative fault with a 51% bar, codified in the Comparative Fault Act at Indiana Code Article 34-51, Chapter 2 (see Indiana Code § 34-51-2-6). Here's how it works:

• If you are 50% or less at fault, you can still recover damages, but your award is reduced by your own percentage of fault. For example, if a jury finds your damages total $100,000 and finds you 20% at fault, your recoverable award drops to $80,000.
• If you are found more than 50% at fault (that is, 51% or greater), Indiana law bars you from recovering anything — the statute directs the jury to return a verdict for the defendant.

Fault is allocated among everyone involved, not just the plaintiff and one defendant, so insurance adjusters and defense lawyers routinely argue an injured person's own fault percentage upward to reduce or eliminate a payout. Don't accept a fault percentage assigned by an insurer at face value. Note that this comparative-fault system does not apply to tort claims against Indiana governmental entities or public employees, which are handled under the separate rules of the Indiana Tort Claims Act discussed below.

Damage Caps in Indiana

Indiana does cap certain categories of damages, but the caps are narrower than many people assume:

• Medical malpractice: Under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act, total recoverable damages (economic and noneconomic combined) for malpractice occurring on or after July 1, 2019 are capped at $1.8 million. A qualified provider's own liability is limited to $500,000, with the remainder payable through the state-run Indiana Patient's Compensation Fund. Earlier-accruing claims used lower caps. This is a total damages cap, not solely a pain-and-suffering cap.
• Ordinary negligence claims (car crashes, slip-and-falls, etc.): Indiana does not impose a general statutory cap on compensatory (economic or noneconomic) damages outside of the medical malpractice context.
• Punitive damages: Under Indiana Code § 34-51-3-4, a punitive damage award cannot exceed the greater of three times the compensatory damages, or $50,000. Unusually, 75% of any punitive award collected goes to the state's violent crime victims compensation fund, with only 25% going to the plaintiff. The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld this cap.
• Claims against government entities carry their own, separate caps (see below) — they are not covered by the medical malpractice or general punitive damages rules.

Damage-cap statutes are among the most frequently litigated and amended provisions in state tort law. Verify the current dollar figures against the current Indiana Code before relying on them, since they can change through subsequent legislative sessions or court rulings.

Car Insurance in Indiana: At-Fault (Tort) State

Indiana is an at-fault (tort) insurance state, not a no-fault/PIP state. That means:

• After a crash, the driver who caused the accident (their insurer) is responsible for the resulting medical bills, lost wages, and other damages of the people they injured — there's no requirement to first exhaust your own PIP coverage before seeking compensation from the at-fault driver.
• Indiana's minimum required liability coverage is 25/50/25: $25,000 bodily injury liability per person, $50,000 bodily injury liability per accident, and $25,000 property damage liability per accident.
• Insurers must also offer uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage — generally at the same limits as your liability coverage — unless the policyholder rejects it in writing.
• An injured person can pursue a claim directly against the at-fault driver's liability insurer, and/or file a lawsuit, subject to the two-year statute of limitations above.

Confirm current minimum coverage figures with the Indiana Department of Insurance or Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, since minimum limits are occasionally adjusted by the legislature.

Dog-Bite Liability in Indiana

Indiana's dog-bite statute, Indiana Code § 15-20-1-3, imposes strict liability in a narrower set of circumstances than many people assume. Under the statute, if a dog — without provocation — bites a person who is acting peaceably and who is in a place where he or she may be required to be in order to carry out a duty imposed by Indiana law, federal law, or U.S. postal regulations (for example, a mail carrier, utility-meter reader, or process server), the dog's owner is liable for the resulting damages even if the dog had never bitten anyone before and the owner had no reason to think it was dangerous. For other injured people — such as an ordinary social guest — this strict-liability statute does not automatically apply; those claims generally proceed under common-law negligence, which can require showing the owner knew or should have known the dog was dangerous. Provocation and trespassing (being unlawfully present) are defenses that can reduce or defeat a claim.

Claims Against the Government: Much Shorter Deadlines

If your injury involves a city, county, school, state agency, or other government body or employee, the two-year statute of limitations above is not the deadline that matters most — the Indiana Tort Claims Act (Indiana Code Article 34-13, Chapter 3) imposes a separate, much shorter notice requirement:

• Political subdivisions (cities, counties, towns, townships, school corporations, and similar local bodies): written notice of your claim generally must be given within 180 days of the loss.
• The State of Indiana or a state agency: written notice generally must be given within 270 days of the loss, served on the Indiana Attorney General and the relevant state agency.
• The Indiana Tort Claims Act also caps damages recoverable from a governmental entity — under Indiana Code § 34-13-3-4, current law limits liability to $700,000 per person and $5,000,000 per occurrence for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2008 (earlier caps applied to older claims), and punitive damages generally are not recoverable against a governmental entity or an employee acting within the scope of employment.

These notice deadlines run separately from — and are far shorter than — the general two-year filing deadline, and missing them can end a claim before it starts. If a government entity, vehicle, employee, or property may be involved in your injury, treat the notice deadline as urgent and confirm the exact requirements with an Indiana attorney immediately.

What to Do in Indiana

1. Get medical care and document the injury. Prompt treatment protects your health and creates the medical record that ties your injuries to the incident.
2. Identify who may be responsible — another driver, a property owner, a dog owner, a government entity or employee — since that determines which deadline and which rules apply.
3. If a government entity might be involved, act immediately. The 180-day (local) or 270-day (state) tort claim notice deadline is far shorter than the general two-year statute of limitations and is easy to miss.
4. Preserve evidence — photos, witness names, police or incident reports, insurance information, and records of lost wages and expenses.
5. Be cautious about admitting fault or accepting an early settlement. Because Indiana bars recovery once you're found more than 50% at fault, how fault gets allocated has an outsized effect on your case.
6. Track the two-year deadline (Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4) for filing suit, and confirm whether any shorter deadline (government claims) or different rule (medical malpractice review process) applies to your situation.
7. File in the appropriate Indiana court. Depending on the amount at stake, personal injury lawsuits in Indiana are generally filed in the Circuit or Superior Court for the county where the injury occurred or where the defendant resides; smaller claims may be eligible for a county Small Claims Court. The Indiana Judicial Branch's Self-Service Legal Center and Small Claims Manual provide general guidance on court procedures.
8. Talk with an Indiana-licensed attorney before your deadline approaches, especially if a government entity, a minor, medical malpractice, or a significant injury is involved — these situations carry rules and exceptions this overview cannot fully capture.

Where Indiana Injury Cases Are Filed

Personal injury lawsuits in Indiana are filed in state court — typically the Circuit or Superior Court in the county where the injury happened or where the defendant lives or is based. The Indiana Office of Court Services and Indiana Judicial Branch publish self-help resources, including a Small Claims Manual, for people handling smaller claims without an attorney.

This article is general information about Indiana law, not legal advice for your specific situation — confirm current statutes and deadlines with an Indiana attorney or the Indiana courts.