If you were hurt in Kansas by someone else''s conduct, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. The deadline comes from Kansas Statutes Annotated section 60-513(a)(4), and the clock starts on the date the harm occurred or, in narrow latent-injury cases, the date the injury was reasonably ascertainable. Miss the window and the courthouse door closes, even if the underlying case is strong.
The two-year number is the rule most Kansas injury searches return. The biggest trap is the 120-day Kansas Tort Claims Act notice to municipalities under K.S.A. 12-105b(d). The Kansas Tort Claims Act (K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq.) governs claims against the State and political subdivisions, and the municipal notice is a strict prerequisite to suit. This post walks through what the two-year SOL really means in 2026, where the exceptions are, and the fact patterns we see trip people up most.
The default Kansas PI window: two years under K.S.A. 60-513(a)(4)
K.S.A. section 60-513(a)(4) sets a two-year statute of limitations for actions for injury to the rights of another. It is the catch-all for the vast majority of Kansas PI cases: car crashes, slip-and-falls, dog bites, premises liability, and most negligence claims.
The clock starts on the date the injury occurred. Kansas recognizes a discovery rule under K.S.A. 60-513(b) for cases where the fact of injury was not reasonably ascertainable until later, subject to an outer 10-year statute of repose from the act giving rise to the cause of action.
Kansas is a no-fault PIP state for auto cases. Drivers are required to carry Personal Injury Protection coverage that pays medical and wage-loss benefits regardless of fault. A tort claim against the at-fault driver can be pursued only when the injury meets one of the statutory thresholds under K.S.A. 40-3117, including a fracture, permanent disfigurement, permanent injury, or medical expenses exceeding $2,000 (verify with your state bar''s current statute).
Exception one: the KTCA 120-day municipal-notice trap
If your injury involves a Kansas municipality (cities, counties, school districts, water districts, and other political subdivisions), the 120-day notice under K.S.A. 12-105b(d) is the operative pre-suit hard deadline. The notice must be filed with the clerk or governing body of the municipality and must contain the elements specified in the statute, including the name and address of the claimant, a concise statement of the factual basis of the claim, the name and address of any public officer or employee involved, a concise statement of the nature and extent of the injury, and a statement of the amount of monetary damages sought.
Strict compliance is generally required. The KTCA itself (K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq.) imposes additional procedural rules and damage caps; verify with your state bar''s current statute.
The single most common Kansas PI trap: a claimant injured by a city vehicle or on city property assumes the two-year SOL applies, contacts an attorney five months after the incident, and learns the 120-day municipal notice has already run. The two-year general SOL never matters; the KTCA notice was the live deadline.
Exception two: medical malpractice and the 10-year repose
Kansas medical-malpractice cases run under K.S.A. 60-513(a)(7): a two-year SOL from the date the act giving rise to the cause of action first causes substantial injury. The discovery rule under K.S.A. 60-513(c) permits limited extensions for foreign-object cases.
Kansas also has a 10-year statute of repose under K.S.A. 60-513(c) that bars claims more than 10 years after the act, regardless of discovery, with limited carve-outs.
Exception three: minors
K.S.A. 60-515(a) tolls the SOL during legal disability, including minority, for general PI claims. The toll generally extends until one year after the disability is removed (typically age 18 plus one year, capping the extension), and the overall SOL cannot exceed eight years after the original accrual date under most circumstances.
The toll does NOT automatically extend the KTCA 120-day municipal-notice deadline. Verify with your state bar''s current statute.
What Kansas''s modified 50% comparative-fault rule means
Kansas follows a modified comparative-fault rule with a 50% bar under K.S.A. 60-258a. A plaintiff less than 50% at fault recovers, reduced by the percentage of plaintiff fault. A plaintiff 50% or more at fault recovers nothing. (Note: 50%, not 51% as in many neighboring states.)
That 50% threshold is where Kansas defense lawyers focus. Pushing fault from 49% to 50% ends the case. Kansas also retains a comparison of fault rule that requires the fact-finder to compare the plaintiff''s fault against the combined fault of all defendants, which can produce strategic complications in multi-defendant cases.
A common Kansas fact pattern that ends cases early
A driver is struck by a city sanitation truck. The driver is treated in the emergency room and released, receives PIP benefits from her own insurer, and assumes the case is being processed through insurance. Five months later, the PIP benefits stop, the driver retains an attorney, and the attorney discovers the city was never given the 120-day KTCA notice. The case is dismissed for failure of a statutory prerequisite. Even if the notice had been timely, the no-fault threshold under K.S.A. 40-3117 must be cleared before any tort claim against the driver can proceed.
The takeaway: if any Kansas municipality is potentially involved (state, city, county, school district, transit authority), the 120-day KTCA notice is the operative limit, and the no-fault threshold under K.S.A. 40-3117 must be cleared before a tort suit is viable.
Other Kansas-specific PI rules worth knowing
Dog bites. Kansas applies a modified one-bite rule. The owner is liable when the owner knew or should have known the dog had dangerous propensities. Two-year SOL.
Wrongful death. Two-year SOL under K.S.A. 60-513(a)(5). Standing under K.S.A. 60-1902 limits recovery to specified heirs.
Premises liability and slip-and-fall. Two-year SOL. Kansas merged the invitee/licensee categories in Jones v. Hansen, 254 Kan. 499 (1994), and applies a general reasonable-care standard to lawful entrants. The 50% modified-comparative bar applies.
How the LawSensai Personal Injury Recovery Center helps with Kansas matters
We built the Recovery Center to handle the day-one organizational work in a Kansas PI case so that nothing falls through the cracks during the two-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 120-day KTCA municipal notice, the 10-year medmal repose, the no-fault PIP threshold under K.S.A. 40-3117, and the underlying K.S.A. 60-513(a)(4) two-year window. When the matter is well-documented and ready, we route it to a verified personal-injury attorney licensed in Kansas. Start your Kansas 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 deep-dive posts here cover the highest-volume jurisdictions. The full LawSensai PI Recovery Center routes 50-state coverage at /personal-injury.
- California (CCP 335.1, MICRA, pure comparative)
- Texas (CPRC 16.003, TTCA 6-month notice, 51% bar)
- Florida (HB 837 2-year SOL, no-fault PIP)
- Georgia (OCGA 9-3-33, ante-litem, 50% bar)
- New York (CPLR 214(5), 90-day GML notice)
- Illinois (1-year SOL under Tort Immunity Act)
- Pennsylvania (MVFRL limited tort, MCARE 7-year repose)
- Ohio (1-year medmal SOL, 180-day letter)
- Michigan (No-fault threshold, 1-year PIP)
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 Kansas before relying on any window described here.
Last verified: 2026-06-03.