If you were hurt in Arkansas by someone else's conduct, you generally have three years from the date of the injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. The deadline comes from Ark. Code section 16-56-105, and the clock starts on the date the harm occurred. Miss the window and the courthouse door closes, even if the underlying case is strong.
The three-year number is the rule most Arkansas injury searches return. The biggest trap: claims against the State of Arkansas and its agencies do not go to the regular courts at all. They go to the Arkansas Claims Commission, and the filing deadline there is one year from accrual, not three. Miss the Claims Commission window and the case ends regardless of the three-year SOL. This post walks through what the three-year SOL really means in 2026, where the exceptions are, and the fact patterns we see trip people up most.
The default Arkansas PI window: three years under Ark. Code 16-56-105
Ark. Code section 16-56-105 sets a three-year statute of limitations for actions for personal injury sounding in tort. It is the catch-all for the vast majority of Arkansas PI cases: car crashes, slip-and-falls, dog bites, premises liability, and most negligence claims.
The clock starts on the date the injury occurred. Arkansas recognizes a discovery rule in narrow categories where the injury was not reasonably knowable at the time.
Arkansas is a fault-based auto-insurance state. The injured party's recovery generally runs through the at-fault driver's insurer or your own uninsured-motorist coverage.
Exception one: the Arkansas Claims Commission 1-year window
Claims against the State of Arkansas, its agencies, boards, commissions, and employees acting in an official capacity generally cannot be brought in the regular Arkansas courts. The State retains sovereign immunity under Article 5, section 20 of the Arkansas Constitution. The exclusive remedy is the Arkansas State Claims Commission under Ark. Code section 19-10-204.
The filing deadline at the Claims Commission is one year from the date the claim accrued under Ark. Code section 19-10-204(b). The Commission then evaluates the claim, may award damages, and forwards awards to the General Assembly for funding appropriations.
The Claims Commission is the operative pre-suit hard deadline for any case involving a State agency, State university, State hospital, or State employee. A claimant who waits eighteen months because they think the three-year SOL applies will find that the Claims Commission window has already closed.
Exception two: claims against Arkansas municipalities and counties
Claims against municipalities in Arkansas are governed by Ark. Code section 21-9-301, which establishes statutory immunity for negligence except to the extent of insurance coverage. Cities are not liable beyond the limits of their liability insurance. Pre-suit notice provisions in many local ordinances require written notice within 90 to 120 days; verify the specific city's requirements.
Claims against counties follow a similar statutory-immunity regime under Ark. Code section 21-9-301. The practical effect is that recovery is capped by the entity's insurance limits and notice requirements vary by jurisdiction.
Exception three: medical malpractice and the 2-year window
Medical-malpractice cases run under Ark. Code section 16-114-203: a two-year SOL from the date of the act or omission, not three. This is shorter than the general PI window. Discovery extensions are narrow.
The Arkansas Medical Malpractice Act, Ark. Code section 16-114-201 et seq., governs the substantive standard of care and required proof. Expert testimony is required to establish the standard of care in most medmal cases.
Exception four: minors
Ark. Code section 16-56-116 tolls the SOL during minority for general PI claims. A child injured at age 10 has until age 21 (three years past the age of majority at 18) to file a personal-injury claim. The toll does not apply to the Claims Commission window for State claims, which runs from accrual regardless of the claimant's age.
What Arkansas's modified 50% comparative-fault rule means
Arkansas follows a modified comparative-fault rule with a 50% bar under Ark. Code section 16-64-122. A plaintiff less than 50% at fault recovers, reduced by the percentage of plaintiff fault. A plaintiff 50% or more at fault recovers nothing.
That 50% threshold is where Arkansas defense lawyers focus. Pushing fault from 49% to 50% ends the case.
A common Arkansas fact pattern that ends cases early
A driver is injured in a collision with a University of Arkansas vehicle. The driver assumes the three-year SOL applies because that is what every Arkansas PI page says online. Fourteen months later, the driver consults an attorney; the attorney discovers the university is a State entity and the exclusive remedy was a Claims Commission filing within one year of accrual. The Claims Commission window has expired. The three-year general SOL never mattered.
The takeaway: if any Arkansas State entity is potentially involved (State agency, State university, State hospital, State employee), treat the one-year Claims Commission deadline as the operative limit and act within it, not the three-year general SOL.
Other Arkansas-specific PI rules worth knowing
Dog bites. Arkansas follows a one-bite rule under common law, modified by local ordinances and leash laws. A leash-law violation can convert a dog-bite case into something closer to a negligence-per-se claim. Three-year SOL.
Wrongful death. Three-year SOL under Ark. Code section 16-62-102. Standing is governed by the wrongful-death statute. Damages include both economic and non-economic recovery.
Premises liability and slip-and-fall. Three-year SOL. Standard duty-of-care analysis based on the plaintiff's status as invitee, licensee, or trespasser. The 50% modified-comparative bar applies.
How the LawSensai Personal Injury Recovery Center helps with Arkansas matters
We built the Recovery Center to handle the day-one organizational work in an Arkansas PI case so that nothing falls through the cracks during the three-year window. We document the incident through a calm, save-and-resume intake, build a medical-and-evidence timeline, and surface every applicable deadline, including the one-year Claims Commission window for State claims, local municipal notice requirements, the two-year medmal window, and the underlying Ark. Code 16-56-105 three-year window. When the matter is well-documented and ready, we route it to a verified personal-injury attorney licensed in Arkansas. Start your Arkansas intake here.
We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. We are the file-organization and deadline-surfacing layer that sits in front of a real attorney.
Personal injury statute of limitations in other states
Each state has its own SOL window, government-notice deadline, comparative-fault regime, and case-type quirks. The full LawSensai PI Recovery Center routes 50-state coverage at /personal-injury.
- Georgia (OCGA 9-3-33, ante-litem, 50% bar)
- Tennessee (1-year SOL, 50% bar)
- Mississippi (3-year SOL, MTCA 90-day notice)
- Oklahoma (2-year SOL, OGTCA 1-year notice)
Informational only
LawSensai is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The information in this post is general and does not account for your specific facts. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this post or by using the Personal Injury Recovery Center. Deadlines, exceptions, and procedural rules vary by case type and by the parties involved; verify your specific situation with a licensed attorney in Arkansas before relying on any window described here.
Last verified: 2026-06-03.