General Overview: Statutes of Limitations for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Kansas or Missouri
The following overview is provided as an accessible reference guide for time limitations that may or may not apply to your case. The legal start date of a statute of limitations is dependent on a variety of factors (including but not always limited to: the date the alleged action occurred or the date the alleged action was discovered).
Call our law office at (913) 764-5010 to speak to an attorney about the specifics of your case.
Kansas
Actions limited to be filed within ONE YEAR:
- Libel or Slander
- Assault, Battery, Malicious Prosecution, or False Imprisonment
- Statutory Penalty or Forfeiture
- Discharge or Threat to Discharge an employee as a result of jury service
Actions limited to be filed within TWO YEARS:
- Trespassing
- Taking, Detaining or Injuring Personal Property
- Fraud
- Loss of Certain Rights (not arising on contract)
- Wrongful Death
- Ionizing Radiation Injury
- The Rendering of or Failure to Render Professional Services by a Health Care Provider (not arising on contract)
Actions limited to be filed within THREE YEARS:
- All actions upon contracts, obligations or liabilities expressed or implied but not in writing
- An action upon a liability created by a statute other than a penalty or forfeiture
Actions limited to be filed within FIVE YEARS:
- An action upon any agreement, contract or promise in writing
- An action brought on a covenant of warranty contained in any deed of conveyance of land, after there shall be a final decision against the title of the covenanter in such deed
- An action upon the official bond or undertaking of an executor, administrator, conservator, sheriff, or any other officer, or upon the bond or undertaking given in attachment, injunction, arrest or in any case required by statute
- An action for relief, other than the recovery of real property
Other Aspects of Kansas Statutes of Limitation for Personal Injury Suits
Persons Under Legal Disability (Minors, Incapacitated and Imprisoned Persons):
- Except as provided in K.S.A. 60-523, if any person entitled to bring an action, at the time of the action or at any time during which the statute of limitations is running, is less than 18 years old, an incapacitated person or imprisoned for a term less than such person's natural life, such persons shall be entitled to bring such action within one year after the person's disability is removed, except that no action shall be commenced by or on behalf of any person under the disability more than eight years after the time of the act causing the action. However, if an imprisoned person has access to the court for purposes of bringing an action, such person shall not be deemed to be under legal disability.
- If any person entitled to bring an action dies during the continuance of an disability specified above and no determination is made of the cause of the action accrued to the deceased, any person entitled to a claim from, by or under the deceased may commence such action within one year after the deceased's death, but in no event shall any such action be commenced more than eight years beyond the time of the act causing the legal action.
Possible 6 Month Extension:
- If the plaintiff fails in any action commenced within due time for reasons other than upon the merits of the case, and the time limited for the case has expired, the plaintiff may commence a new action with six months after such failure if the cause of the action survives. If the plaintiff has died, his or her representatives may commence a new action if the cause of the action survives.
Commencement of Action:
- A civil action is commenced the time of filing a petition with the clerk of the court, if service of process is obtained or the first publication is made for service by publication within 90 days after the petition is filed, except that the court may extend that time and additional 30 days upon a showing of good cause by the plaintiff. A civil action is also commenced at the time of service of process or first publication if the service of process or first publication is not made within the time specified by the provision
- If service of process or first publication purports to have been made but is later adjudicated to have been invalid due to any irregularity in form or procedure or any defect, the action shall still be deemed to have been commenced within the applicable time if valid service is obtained or first publication is made within 90 days after that adjudication. The court may extend that time by an additional 30 days upon showing of good cause by the plaintiff.
- The filing of an entry of appearance shall have the same effect as service. Written contact with the court by a defendant or attorney for a defendant evoking the protection for such defendant under the soldier's or sailor's civil relief act shall not be deemed an entry of appearance by the court.
Missouri
Actions limited to be filed within ONE YEAR:
- Suits Against the Department of Corrections
Actions limited to be filed within TWO YEARS:
- Libel and/or Slander
- Assault and/or Battery
- False Imprisonment
- Criminal Conversation
- Malicious Prosecution
- Actions brought under section 290.140, RSMo
- Unpaid Wages, Overtime or Damages as a result of unpaid wages
- Suits Against Health Care Providers (physicians, hospitals, dentists, nurses, optometrists, podiatrists, pharmacists, chiropractors, physical therapists, and any other healthcare service or employee) for malpractice, negligence, error or mistake. Two years is either from the date the service was provided or from the date of discovery of the alleged negligence. In the case of a minor under 18, the minor shall have until his twentieth birthday.
Actions limited to be filed within THREE YEARS:
- Suits Against a Sheriff, Coroner or Other Officer
- Wrongful Death
Actions limited to be filed within FIVE YEARS:
- Suits upon Contracts, Obligations or Liabilities, expressed or implied, except those mentioned in section 516.110 RSMo
- Liability created by a statute other than a penalty or forfeiture
- Trespassing
- Taking, Detaining or Injuring Personal Property
- Fraud
Other Aspects of Missouri Statutes of Limitation for Personal Injury Suits
Minors and Mentally Incapacitated:
- Filing of suit may be delayed if at the time of the action the plaintiff was under 21 years of age or was mentally incapacitated.
One Year to Re-File:
- If any action shall have been commenced within the times respectively prescribed in sections 516.010 to 516.370, and the plaintiff therein suffer a nonsuit, or, after a verdict for him or her, the judgment be arrested, or after a judgment for him or her the same be reversed on appeal or error, such plaintiff may commence a new action within one year. If the plaintiff dies and the cause of action remains his or her heirs, executors or administrators may commence a new action within the time allowed.
