A statute-of-limitations tracking checklist for small PI firms

Missing a statute of limitations is one of the most serious and avoidable mistakes in personal injury practice. It's rarely a failure of knowledge. Far more often, it's a failure of process: the date was calculated wrong, entered in one calendar and not another, or nobody owned it when the file changed hands.

This checklist is a routine any small firm can adopt. Adapt it to your state's rules, which vary considerably.

At first contact

• Record the incident date as precisely as the caller can give it.
• Record the state where the incident happened, and note if more than one state might be involved (for example, the client lives in one state and the crash happened in another).
• Ask about government involvement. A city bus, a public road defect, a state employee or public property can trigger notice-of-claim requirements with deadlines that may be much shorter than the ordinary limitation period.
• Ask the injured person's age. Many states pause (toll) limitation periods for minors, but the rules differ, and they may not apply to every type of claim.
• Ask whether anyone died. Wrongful death and survival claims often have their own periods and start dates.
• Ask when they knew they were hurt, if the injury wasn't obvious right away. Some claims are subject to discovery rules.

Calculating the date

• Start from the general period for the claim type in that state.
• Check for exceptions that may shorten or extend it: government defendants, minors, discovery rules, wrongful death, contractual limits in insurance policies (for example on uninsured or underinsured motorist claims) and any tolling events.
• Write down how you got the date. A one-line note ("TX general PI period, 2 years from incident; no government party") makes the date checkable later.
• Calculate both the limitation date and any earlier notice deadlines, and track them separately.

Confirming it

• A lawyer confirms every limitation date. Not the intake form, not the software, not a paralegal alone. The lawyer responsible for the matter reviews the calculation and signs off.
• Record who confirmed it and when.
• Re-check when facts change. New defendants, new information about government involvement or a client's age can all change the answer.

Calendaring it

• One firm-wide list. Every limitation date and notice deadline should be visible in one place that more than one person checks, not only in the responsible lawyer's calendar.
• Reminders well ahead. Many firms set reminders at intervals such as 180, 90, 60 and 30 days before the date. Pick intervals that leave time to file suit if needed.
• A named owner. Every date has a person responsible, and a back-up.
• A weekly review. Someone looks at everything due in the next 90 days, every week, and asks: is this on track?

When the file changes

• Staff changes: when someone leaves or goes on leave, reassign their deadlines the same day.
• Transfers in: when you take over a case from another firm, recalculate the dates yourself.
• Stage changes: when a case moves from treatment to demand to litigation, make sure the limitation date is still visible until suit is filed.

When you decline or close

• Send a non-engagement letter when you decline a case or a prospective client doesn't hire you. Many firms state clearly that the firm is not representing them, that time limits apply to their claim, and that they should consult another lawyer promptly. Whether to state a specific date is a judgment call with risks either way; talk to your malpractice carrier about their guidance.
• Closing letters for matters that end without suit should make clear that the representation has ended.

Auditing the routine

Once a quarter, pick a handful of open matters at random and check:

• Is the limitation date recorded and confirmed by a lawyer?
• Is there a note explaining how it was calculated?
• Are notice deadlines, if any, tracked separately?
• Is there a named owner and a reminder in place?

If any answer is no, fix the file, then fix the step in the routine that let it slip.

Where Meruit helps

Meruit's Deadlines puts every deadline in the firm into one list, grouped into overdue, this week and later. The statute-of-limitations calculator suggests a date from a state table of general periods, and that date doesn't count until a lawyer confirms it, with their name and the time recorded. The exceptions in this checklist are still yours to apply; software can suggest a date, but only a lawyer can decide it's right.