If you were hurt in Maine by someone else''s conduct, you generally have six years from the date of the injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. The deadline comes from 14 M.R.S. section 752, and the clock starts on the date the harm occurred. Maine''s six-year SOL is one of the longest general PI windows in the country, but it is not the only deadline that matters.
The six-year number is the rule most Maine injury searches return. The biggest trap is the 180-day notice under the Maine Tort Claims Act (MTCA), 14 M.R.S. section 8107, for any claim against a Maine governmental entity. Miss the 180-day notice and the case against the government ends regardless of the six-year SOL. This post walks through what the six-year SOL really means in 2026, where the exceptions are, and the fact patterns we see trip people up most.
The default Maine PI window: six years under 14 M.R.S. 752
14 M.R.S. section 752 sets a six-year statute of limitations for civil actions, including most personal-injury claims, that are not otherwise specified. It is the catch-all for the vast majority of Maine PI cases: car crashes, slip-and-falls, dog bites, premises liability, and most negligence claims.
The clock starts on the date the injury occurred. Maine recognizes a discovery rule for cases where the injury was not reasonably knowable at the time.
Maine 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 MTCA 180-day notice trap
If your injury involves a Maine governmental entity (state, county, municipality, school district, or political subdivision), the Maine Tort Claims Act under 14 M.R.S. section 8107 requires written notice within 180 days of the injury. The notice must describe the time, place, and circumstances of the injury.
Substantial compliance is sometimes recognized under Maine law, but the courts have not been generous. A defective or late notice usually ends the claim against the government.
Damage caps under 14 M.R.S. section 8105 limit governmental liability to $400,000 per occurrence for most claims, with limited carve-outs for certain insurance-policy coverage.
The single most common Maine PI trap: a claimant injured on a town sidewalk assumes the six-year SOL applies, takes time to recover, and contacts an attorney eight or nine months later. By then the 180-day MTCA notice has long since run, and the claim against the municipality is dead. The six-year general SOL never matters; the MTCA notice was the live deadline.
Exception two: medical malpractice and the Health Care Practitioners Act
Maine medical-malpractice cases run under 24 M.R.S. section 2902: a three-year SOL from the date of the act or omission. Maine also requires the claim to be presented to a pre-litigation screening panel under 24 M.R.S. sections 2851 through 2859 before a court action may proceed. Failure to use the panel process is grounds for dismissal.
Exception three: minors
14 M.R.S. section 853 tolls the SOL during minority for general PI claims. A child injured at age 10 has until age 24 to file (age of majority plus six years). The toll does NOT extend the 180-day MTCA notice, which runs from accrual regardless of the claimant''s age.
What Maine''s modified 50% comparative-negligence rule means
Maine follows a modified comparative-negligence rule under 14 M.R.S. section 156. The Maine statute uses an "equal-fault" formulation: if the plaintiff''s fault is equal to or greater than the defendant''s fault, the plaintiff recovers nothing. Otherwise, damages are reduced by the percentage of plaintiff fault.
In practice, this functions as a 50% bar: at 50% fault, the case ends. That threshold is where Maine defense lawyers focus.
A common Maine fact pattern that ends cases early
A driver is sideswiped by a Maine Department of Transportation truck on Route 1. The driver is treated for whiplash, files an insurance claim, and assumes the long six-year SOL gives plenty of time. Seven months later, the insurance carrier denies coverage; the driver retains an attorney; the attorney discovers the state was never given the 180-day section 8107 notice. The case against the state is dismissed.
The takeaway: if any Maine governmental entity is potentially involved (state, county, town, school district), treat the 180-day notice as the operative deadline and act within it, not the six-year general SOL.
Other Maine-specific PI rules worth knowing
Dog bites. 7 M.R.S. section 3961 makes the owner or keeper strictly liable for damages caused by a dog. Six-year SOL under 14 M.R.S. 752.
Wrongful death. 18-C M.R.S. section 2-807 sets a three-year SOL from the date of death and a damage cap on noneconomic damages.
Premises liability and slip-and-fall. Six-year SOL under 14 M.R.S. 752. The 50% comparative-fault bar applies.
Product liability. 14 M.R.S. section 752-C sets a six-year SOL for product-liability actions, generally from discovery of the injury.
How the LawSensai Personal Injury Recovery Center helps with Maine matters
We built the Recovery Center to handle the day-one organizational work in a Maine PI case so that nothing falls through the cracks during the six-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 180-day MTCA notice, the three-year medmal SOL, the pre-litigation screening-panel requirement, and the underlying 14 M.R.S. 752 six-year window. When the matter is well-documented and ready, we route it to a verified personal-injury attorney licensed in Maine. Start your Maine 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.
- New Hampshire (RSA 508:4, BRM notice)
- Vermont (12 V.S.A. 512, VTCA notice)
- Massachusetts (3-year SOL, MTCA notice, PIP)
- Rhode Island (3-year SOL, pure comparative)
- Connecticut (Conn. Gen. Stat. 52-584, highway defect)
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 Maine before relying on any window described here.
Last verified: 2026-06-03.