The Statute of Limitations and Limited Tort
As any Pittsburgh lawyer will tell you, the statute of limitations in Pennsylvania to sue for injuries in a motor vehicle accident is two years from the accident.
Pennsylvania has something called the "discovery rule," which tolls (or extends) the statute of limitations until you discover your injury. That said, when you're in a car accident, unless unconscious for days, you immediately know of at least some injury from the crash, even you don't know the full extent of the injury.
Thus, the discovery rule is generally inapplicable to motor vehicle accident cases.
Except in one instance: limited tort cases.
Limited Tort Threshold
Oddly, electing "limited tort" can restrict your rights to sue for injuries, but it can extend the time during which you may sue.
Here's how.
The limited tort election restricts your ability to sue for pain and suffering, unless one of the statutory exceptions exist, or the injuries involve death, a serious impairment of an important bodily function, or permanent disfigurement. However, this "limitation" also invites application of the discovery rule, because as PA's lower courts have recognized, for a "limited tort-plaintiff" no claim exists until his injuries start to appear serious.
Then, the Pennsylvania Superior Court weighed-in to end the controversy.
The PA Superior Court: Limited Tort and the Statute of Limitations
In Varner-Mort v. Kapfhammer, 109 A.3d 244, 2015 P.A. Super 14 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2015), the plaintiff's injuries to her face and jaw appeared to involve only minor bruising. She failed to file suit within two years of the accident. However, over time, allegedly, Plaintiff's facial injury was subsequently aggravated by normal opening and closing of the jaw and she ultimately lost the use of her tempro-mandibular joint (TM joint). The Supreme Court in Varner-Mort ultimately held:
Pursuant to § 1705 of the MVFRL, an insured can choose a limited tort option for automobile insurance coverage. If this option is chosen, the insured will pay a lower premium for the insurance in exchange for agreeing not to seek recompense for bodily injury that does not rise to the level of a serious injury. Since, under the provisions of this statute, a limited tort plaintiff does not have a valid cause of action unless and until an injury rises to the level of a "serious injury."
Plus, since the statute of limitations period does not ordinarily begin to run until a cause of action accrues, we conclude that the statute of limitations period cannot begin to run on a limited tort plaintiff until he knows or reasonably should know that he has sustained the requisite serious injury.
Thus, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania opined that the statute of limitations on a limited tort claim does not begin until the plaintiff's injury starts to look "serious." This means: "[a] personal injury resulting in death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement."
As a result, in effect, the limited tort doctrine can extend the statute of limitations.
Go figure.
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