Nebraska Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims

A statute of limitations is the time limit the legislature sets for bringing a claim to court. It is the one rule in injury law with no gray area on the far side of it: a strong case filed a day late is worth nothing. This page sets out every Nebraska deadline that regularly affects injured people, quotes the statutes, and links each one to the Legislature’s own site so you can read it yourself. If your injury happened in Iowa, the deadline is different and shorter — see the companion guide to the Iowa statute of limitations for personal injury.

How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Nebraska?

Four years, for most claims. Section 25-207 provides that “the following actions can only be brought within four years,” and lists, among others, “an action for an injury to the rights of the plaintiff, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated.” That phrase is the legal home of the ordinary negligence claim. It covers injuries from car crashes, truck collisions, motorcycle and pedestrian crashes, falls on unsafe property, dog bites and most other injuries caused by someone else’s carelessness. The same section gives four years for “taking, detaining or injuring personal property,” which is the claim for the damage to your vehicle.

Four years is longer than most states allow, and that length is its own trap. People assume there is plenty of time, treatment drags on, an adjuster stays friendly, and the shorter deadlines below — which apply to a surprising share of real cases — go by unnoticed.

Nebraska Injury Claim Deadlines at a Glance

When Does the Clock Start?

For an ordinary injury claim, the clock starts on the day you were hurt. The Nebraska Supreme Court restated the rule in 2022 in Susman v. Kearney Towing & Repair Center: “a cause of action accrues and the statute of limitations begins to run when the aggrieved party has the right to institute and maintain a suit.” In that case a tire had been negligently installed long before it failed. The court held the four years ran from the crash, not from the installation, because until the crash the plaintiffs “were not aggrieved parties and their ordinary negligence action had not yet accrued.”

That cuts both ways. It protects someone hurt by negligence that happened years earlier. But it also means the period does not wait for you to understand how badly you were hurt, to finish treatment, or to learn who was at fault. The same opinion notes that the Legislature has not “enacted a ‘discovery’ rule to govern the accrual of ordinary negligence claims.”

The discovery rule is narrow

People often assume the time limit runs from when they “discovered” the claim. In Nebraska that is true only in limited situations: where a statute says so, as with professional negligence and asbestos, and in a narrow class of cases where the injury itself could not have been known. In Alston v. Hormel Foods Corp. the Supreme Court explained that discovery “does not refer to the legal right to seek redress, but to the fact that one knows of the existence of an injury,” and that the rule gives no help where the person “in fact discovers, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury within the initial period of limitations.” If you knew you were hurt, the clock is running, even if you did not yet know you had a legal claim.

The Shorter Deadlines That Catch People

Wrongful death: two years from the death

When an injury is fatal, the family does not get four years. Section 30-810 says a wrongful death action “shall be commenced within two years after the death of such person,” and that it “shall be brought by and in the name of the person’s personal representative for the exclusive benefit of the widow or widower and next of kin.” Two points follow. The period runs from the date of death, which may be later than the date of the crash. And because only a court-appointed personal representative can file, an estate has to be opened first — a step that takes time and should not be left to the final weeks. The same statute requires the appointing court to approve any settlement. More on these claims is on my wrongful death page.

Claims against a city, county, school or other political subdivision: one year to give written notice

This is the deadline most often missed, because nothing about the crash tells you it applies. If the at-fault driver was in a city truck, a county sheriff’s cruiser, a school bus or a public-utility vehicle, or if you were hurt on public property, your claim is governed by the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act. Section 13-919 is blunt: every such claim “shall be forever barred unless within one year after such claim accrued the claim is made in writing to the governing body,” and suits are “forever barred unless begun within two years after such claim accrued.”

The written claim has to go to the right place and say the right things. It must be filed with “the clerk, secretary, or other official whose duty it is to maintain the official records of the political subdivision,” and must “set forth the time and place of the occurrence giving rise to the claim and such other facts pertinent to the claim as are known to the claimant.” A phone call to the city’s insurer, or an adjuster’s claim number, is not the written claim the statute requires. After filing, you cannot sue until the governing body acts on the claim, or six months pass and you withdraw it in writing.

Claims against the State of Nebraska or the federal government

A claim against the State — a crash with a state vehicle, an injury at a state facility — “shall be forever barred unless within two years after such claim accrued the claim is made in writing to the Risk Manager” (§ 81-8,227). As with local governments, there is a waiting period before suit while the claim is considered.

Federal defendants have their own statute. A crash with a postal vehicle or an injury at a federal facility falls under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and a claim “shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues.” Once the agency denies the claim in writing, there are only six months to file suit.

Medical malpractice: two years, with a discovery extension and a ten-year outer limit

Under § 44-2828 and § 25-222, a malpractice action “shall be commenced within two years next after the alleged act or omission.” If the problem “is not discovered and could not be reasonably discovered within such two-year period,” the action may be brought “within one year from the date of such discovery or from the date of discovery of facts which would reasonably lead to such discovery, whichever is earlier.” And there is a hard stop: “In no event” may an action be commenced “more than ten years after the date of rendering or failing to render such professional service.”

Workers’ compensation: two years, measured from the accident or the last payment

A work injury is not a lawsuit against the employer; it is a claim under the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act with its own clock. Claims “shall be forever barred unless, within two years after the accident,” the parties agree on compensation or a petition is filed. Where benefits have been paid, “such limitation shall not take effect until the expiration of two years from the time of the making of the last payment” (§ 48-137). Separately, the employer must be given notice of the injury “as soon as practicable.” If someone other than your employer caused the injury — another driver, a contractor, an equipment maker — you may also have a four-year negligence claim running alongside the comp claim. The comp side is covered in depth on my work injury pages.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims

Your own policy’s uninsured and underinsured coverage is tied to the deadline against the at-fault driver. The statute says those coverages “shall not apply to” an injury “with respect to which the applicable statute of limitations has expired on the insured’s claim against the uninsured or underinsured motorist” (§ 44-6413). In plain terms: if the four years run out on the claim against the other driver before that claim is filed or resolved, the coverage you paid for can be lost with it. How that coverage works is explained on my underinsured motorist coverage page.

Railroad workers, defective products and asbestos

Railroad employees are covered by a federal law, FELA, rather than workers’ compensation, and “no action shall be maintained … unless commenced within three years from the day the cause of action accrued” (see my FELA page). Product liability actions must be “commenced within four years next after the date on which the death, injury, or damage complained of occurs,” and are also subject to a repose period measured from when the product was first sold: ten years for products made in Nebraska, and for products made elsewhere, the period set by the place of manufacture. Asbestos claims run “four years after the injured person has been informed of discovery of the injury by competent medical authority and that such injury was caused by exposure to asbestos” — a rule that matters in mesothelioma cases, where the disease appears decades after the exposure.

Children, and Others the Law Gives Extra Time

Nebraska pauses the clock for certain people. Under § 25-213, if the person entitled to sue is, when the claim arises, “within the age of twenty years, a person with a mental disorder, or imprisoned,” that person may bring the action “within the respective times limited … after such disability is removed.” The Supreme Court read the age language in Carruth v. State: “a person is within the age of 20 years until he or she becomes 21 years old.” So for a child injured in a crash, the four-year period for the child’s own negligence claim ordinarily begins at the twenty-first birthday. The section expressly reaches actions under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, the State Tort Claims Act and the Hospital-Medical Liability Act as well.

Three cautions. First, tolling does not preserve evidence; a claim filed fifteen years after a crash is a claim with missing witnesses and lost records, and a child’s case is almost always better brought while the facts are fresh. Second, do not assume tolling rescues a missed notice deadline against a government body, or a wrongful death deadline; treat those dates as fixed for everyone. Third, some outer limits run regardless of age, including the ten-year limit on malpractice claims and the repose period for products.

Talking to the Insurance Company Does Not Stop the Clock

Nothing in Nebraska law extends the deadline because a claim is open, an adjuster is investigating, or settlement talks are under way. In Woodard v. City of Lincoln the Supreme Court adopted the rule that “the mere pendency of negotiations during the period of a statute of limitations, which are conducted in good faith with a view to ultimate compromise, is not of itself sufficient to establish an estoppel,” and added that its holding “creates no duty on the part of political subdivisions or any other party to inform an adversary of the existence of a statute of limitations.” The Court of Appeals applied the same idea to a car crash in Keene v. Teten, where an insurer had paid the property damage and invited further contact: “If settlement negotiations are generally insufficient to establish estoppel, certainly mere investigation of a claim absent negotiations … is not either.”

The adjuster is not required to warn you that the date is approaching, and will not. The only things that reliably protect a claim are a signed settlement or a lawsuit filed in court before the period ends.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline?

The case can be dismissed without anyone looking at the merits. Technically, the statute of limitations is a defense the other side has to raise — the Supreme Court has said it “does not operate by its own force as a bar but operates rather as a defense to be pleaded by the party relying upon it” (Welsch v. Graves). In practice, every insurance defense lawyer raises it, and courts enforce it — in the court’s own words from Alston, “against an otherwise valid claim.” Once the period has run there is nothing to negotiate with, because the insurer knows the claim cannot be taken to court.

Why You Should Not Wait Until Year Three

Having four years is not a reason to use them. The cases I am able to build well are the ones that start early:

• Evidence disappears on its own schedule. Store and traffic video is overwritten in days or weeks. Vehicles are repaired or scrapped. Trucking companies keep driver logs and electronic data only as long as regulations require unless someone demands they be preserved.
• You may not know who the defendant is. The pickup that hit you may turn out to belong to a county, which means the one-year written claim applies, not the four-year rule. The only way to find out in time is to investigate early.
• Crashes cross state lines. Omaha sits on the Iowa border. If the crash happened in Council Bluffs or on the Iowa side of I-80 or I-29, Iowa’s two-year period may control — see the Iowa deadline guide.
• A lawsuit takes preparation. Records have to be gathered, experts consulted, and for a wrongful death an estate opened. A case that arrives in my office with a month left cannot be prepared the way it should be.
• Your own coverage depends on it. As explained above, uninsured and underinsured motorist benefits can be lost if the claim against the other driver is allowed to expire.

None of this means a claim should be settled quickly. Settling before you know the full extent of an injury is its own mistake, and I explain the timing in how long a personal injury case takes. The point is that the investigation, the notices and the calendar should start early, even when the settlement comes much later.

What to Do Right Now

• Write down the date of the injury and, if someone died, the date of death. Every deadline on this page is counted from one of those.
• Find out who owned every vehicle and property involved. A government owner changes the deadline from four years to a written claim within one.
• If the injury happened at work, report it to your employer in writing now, whatever else is going on.
• Do not rely on what an adjuster tells you about timing. The adjuster has no duty to get it right for you.
• Have a lawyer calendar the claim. Identifying which of these deadlines applies is the first thing I do in every new case, and the consultation is free. If you were just in a crash, start with what to do after a car accident in Nebraska.

Statutes read at nebraskalegislature.gov and law.cornell.edu on October 1, 2026. Deadlines can be changed by the Legislature and can turn on facts specific to your case; this page is general information, not advice about your claim.

Your Attorney

Frank Younes

Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.

More about Frank → · Free consultation: (402) 378-9208

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the statute of limitations for a car accident in Nebraska?

Four years from the date of the crash for an injury claim and for vehicle damage, under Neb. Rev. Stat. 25-207. If the crash was fatal, the wrongful death claim must be filed within two years of the death.

Is there a time limit for personal injury claims in Nebraska?

Yes. Most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within four years of the injury. Wrongful death, medical malpractice and workers’ compensation claims have two-year limits, and claims against local governments require a written claim within one year.

How long do I have to sue a city or county in Nebraska?

You must make a written claim to the governing body within one year and file suit within two years. The written claim goes to the clerk or other official who keeps the political subdivision’s records.

Does the time limit start when I discover my injury?

Usually not. An ordinary negligence claim accrues when you are injured. Nebraska applies a discovery rule only in limited situations, such as professional negligence and asbestos claims, or where the injury itself could not have been known.

Do children have longer to file in Nebraska?

Generally yes. Under section 25-213 the period does not begin to run against a person under twenty-one until that disability is removed, so a child’s own injury claim ordinarily runs from the twenty-first birthday. Some outer limits still apply.

Does negotiating with the insurance company extend the deadline?

No. Nebraska courts have held that pending settlement negotiations do not by themselves stop the statute of limitations, and the insurer has no duty to tell you the deadline is approaching.

What if my accident happened in Iowa?

Iowa’s deadline for injury claims is two years, half of Nebraska’s. If you were hurt in Iowa, read the Iowa deadline guide and get advice promptly.