The insurance adjuster is still calling, the medical bills are still arriving, and nobody has mentioned a deadline. There is one, it is set by statute, and when it passes your claim is gone no matter how strong it was. Here is how the personal injury statute of limitations works in South Carolina, and the exceptions that shorten or extend it.
Short answer: Three years for most personal injury claims in South Carolina. But the clock does not always start on the day you were hurt, and if a government body is involved you may have only two.
The general rule: three years
S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5) sets a three-year limit on “an action for assault, battery, or any injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract.” That is the provision that governs the ordinary car crash, slip and fall, or dog bite case.
Three years sounds generous. It is not. Building a case takes medical records, treatment that has reached maximum improvement, an accident reconstruction in a disputed-liability case, and often a fight with an insurer before a lawsuit is ever drafted. Firms decline good cases every year because they arrive with weeks left on the clock.
If you are still deciding whether to bring in a lawyer at all, our post on why you need a lawyer after a car accident in South Carolina covers what happens in the months before a filing deadline matters.
When the clock starts: the discovery rule
For most injuries the clock starts the day you are hurt, because that is the day you know. Where the injury is not obvious, § 15-3-535 governs: an action under § 15-3-530(5) must be commenced within three years after the person “knew or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known that he had a cause of action.”
Read the second half of that sentence carefully. The standard is not when you actually found out. It is when a reasonably diligent person would have. Waiting to investigate does not extend the deadline, and a defendant will argue you should have known earlier than you say you did.
Wrongful death runs from the date of death
Section 15-3-530(6) covers wrongful death actions brought under §§ 15-51-10 to 15-51-60, and it specifies that the period begins to run “upon the death of the person on account of whose death the action is brought.”
That matters when someone is injured and dies later. The wrongful death clock runs from the death, not from the underlying incident, and a survival claim for the decedent's own pre-death injuries can run on a different schedule. Two related claims, two possible dates.
Claims against a government body: two years, sometimes three
If a city, county, school district, state agency, or public hospital is a defendant, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act controls and the window is shorter. Under S.C. Code § 15-78-110, an action is “forever barred unless an action is commenced within two years after the date the loss was or should have been discovered.”
The same section supplies the extension: if the claimant first filed a claim under the chapter, the action based on the same occurrence must be commenced within three years. Filing a verified claim buys the third year. Not filing one does not.
This is the deadline people miss most often, because nothing about a crash announces that the other vehicle belonged to a public body. A municipal truck, a school bus, a county EMS unit, or a state-employed physician all pull the case into the two-year track.
Medical malpractice has its own clock and an outer wall
Section 15-3-545(A) requires a malpractice action to be commenced within three years of the treatment or omission, or three years from discovery or when it reasonably ought to have been discovered — but “not to exceed six years from date of occurrence.”
That six-year ceiling is a repose period. Even a genuinely undiscoverable injury can expire before anyone learns of it. The one carve-out is subsection (B): where a foreign object is left in the body, the action runs two years from discovery, and in no event less than three years after the object was left.
Minors and incapacity: tolling, with limits
Under S.C. Code § 15-3-40, if the person entitled to sue was under eighteen or insane when the cause of action accrued, the period of disability does not count against the limitations period. The limits matter as much as the rule: no disability other than infancy extends the period more than five years, and no disability extends it longer than one year after the disability ends.
There is a trap here that catches families, and it turns on the words “entitled to sue”. A wrongful death action may be brought only by the estate’s personal representative. So a child who is a BENEFICIARY of a wrongful death claim is not a person entitled to bring it, and their minority does not stop the clock. In Wyatt v. Spartan Mill Co., 287 S.C. 334, 338 S.E.2d 341 (1985), a father drowned months before his daughter was born; she was appointed administratrix at eighteen and sued. The Supreme Court held she was “neither her father’s estate’s administratrix nor executrix and was therefore not a person entitled to bring an action within the meaning of § 15-3-40”, that the limitations period was not tolled during her minority, and that the suit was barred.
The practical point for a parent or grandparent: if a child has lost a parent, do not assume the claim waits for them to turn eighteen. Someone has to be appointed to bring it, and the clock runs meanwhile.
Malpractice again differs. Section 15-3-545(D) caps tolling for minors at seven years, and at one year after the disability ceases, notwithstanding § 15-3-40.
Filing is not the same as serving
Meeting the deadline is not only about getting a complaint stamped. Section 15-3-20(B) provides that a civil action is commenced when the summons and complaint are filed with the clerk of court “if actual service is accomplished within one hundred twenty days after filing.”
Filing on the last available day and then failing to serve within 120 days can undo the filing. The deadline is really two deadlines.
What to do if you are close to the deadline
- Find the date of the incident and count forward three years — that is your outside date unless an exception applies.
- Ask whether any defendant is a government body. If so, assume two years and ask about filing a verified claim.
- Do not let settlement talks run the clock out. An adjuster's ongoing interest is not an extension, and nothing stops a limitations defense once the date passes.
- Preserve evidence now — vehicles get repaired, video is overwritten, and witnesses move.
If an insurer has already made an offer you think is low, our post on next steps after rejecting an insurance settlement in South Carolina explains what happens next and how the deadline interacts with negotiation.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to sue after a car accident in South Carolina?
Three years from the crash under § 15-3-530(5), unless a government body is involved, in which case the Tort Claims Act shortens it to two years — or three if a verified claim was filed first.
Does the deadline change if I was still treating?
No. Ongoing treatment does not extend the limitations period. It affects when your case is ready to value, which is a different question, and it is why waiting until treatment ends to call a lawyer can be a costly choice.
What if I did not realize I was injured until months later?
Section 15-3-535 runs the three years from when you knew or reasonably should have known you had a cause of action. The second half of that test is the one that gets litigated, so do not assume a late discovery date will be accepted.
My child was hurt. Does the deadline wait until they turn eighteen?
Generally the period of minority does not count under § 15-3-40, but the extensions are capped, and medical malpractice claims follow the tighter rule in § 15-3-545(D). Do not treat a child's claim as indefinitely open.
What happens if I miss it?
The claim is barred. Courts enforce these deadlines regardless of the merits, which is why the date is the first thing any attorney checks.
Talk to a South Carolina personal injury attorney
Klok Law Firm handles injury claims in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties. If you are unsure which deadline applies to your case — and the Tort Claims Act catches people out — the safe move is to ask early rather than late. Our post on what damages you can claim in a South Carolina personal injury case covers what is recoverable once the claim is timely. Call Klok Law at (843) 701-1695 to discuss your options.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Limitations periods turn on facts specific to each case. For advice about your specific situation, contact Klok Law at (843) 701-1695.