North Carolina Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

Three years. For personal injury, the claim does not accrue until bodily harm becomes apparent or reasonably should have become apparent, but no claim may accrue more than 10 years after the defendant's last act or omission (with limited exceptions).

Three years for taking, detaining, converting or injuring personal property. For physical damage to property, the claim does not accrue until the damage becomes apparent or reasonably should have become apparent, with a 10-year outer limit from the defendant's last act.

Three years from the defendant's last act giving rise to the claim. If the injury was not readily apparent and is discovered (or reasonably should have been) two or more years after that act, suit may be filed within one year after discovery, but never less than three years nor more than four years after the last act. For a foreign object with no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose left in the body, suit may be filed within one year after discovery, but no more than 10 years after the last act.

Two years; the claim accrues on the date of death. No wrongful death action may be brought if the person who died would have been barred, had he or she lived, by the personal injury or malpractice time limits.

The action is brought by the personal representative or collector of the estate. After reimbursing the estate's expenses and paying attorney fees, the recovery is not used to pay the decedent's debts (except burial expenses and up to $4,500 of hospital and medical expenses, subject to limits) and is distributed under the Intestate Succession Act.

Contributory negligence. North Carolina has not adopted comparative fault; under its common law, a plaintiff whose own negligence contributed to the injury generally cannot recover. By statute, the defendant has the burden of proving contributory negligence. For tort claims against the state, the Industrial Commission may award damages only if there was no contributory negligence by the claimant.

No general cap on compensatory damages in personal injury cases was found. Caps apply to noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, to punitive damages, and to tort claims against the state ($1,000,000 per person per occurrence).

Yes. Total noneconomic damages against all defendants in a medical malpractice action were capped at $500,000, and the cap is reset every three years (starting January 1, 2014) for inflation by the Office of State Budget and Management. There is no cap if the plaintiff suffered disfigurement, loss of use of part of the body, permanent injury or death and the defendant acted with reckless disregard, gross negligence, fraud, intent or malice. The jury is not told about the cap.

Allowed only if the defendant is liable for compensatory damages and the plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence that fraud, malice, or willful or wanton conduct was present and related to the injury. Not available solely on vicarious liability or solely for breach of contract. Capped at three times compensatory damages or $250,000, whichever is greater; the cap does not apply to injuries caused by a defendant driving while impaired. The jury is not told about the cap.

Tort claims against state departments and agencies are heard by the North Carolina Industrial Commission under the State Tort Claims Act. A claim must be filed with the Commission within three years after it accrues (or, for wrongful death, by the personal representative within two years after the death). The state may pay no more than $1,000,000 cumulatively to all claimants for injury to any one person from one occurrence. Recovery requires that the claimant not be contributorily negligent.

Strict liability for dangerous dogs. The owner of a dog that has been determined to be a dangerous dog is strictly liable for any injuries or property damage the dog inflicts on a person, the person's property, or another animal. Other dog-bite cases are governed by court decisions.

A vehicle may not be registered unless the owner provides proof of financial responsibility, which must be maintained continuously. The required amounts are $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for bodily injury and $50,000 for property damage.

The driver in a "reportable" crash must immediately, by the quickest means available, notify law enforcement — the city or town police inside a municipality, or otherwise the State Highway Patrol, sheriff's office or other rural police. A reportable crash is one causing death or injury, total property damage of $1,000 or more, or any damage to a vehicle seized under G.S. 20-28.3. In a reportable crash the driver must generally stay with the vehicle at the scene until an officer finishes the investigation or allows them to leave.

Law enforcement must investigate every reportable crash; the officer writes a report within 24 hours, and it is forwarded to the Division (local agencies forward it within 10 days). The Division may ask the driver for proof of financial responsibility (insurance). A driver who hits a parked or unattended vehicle must report to its owner within 48 hours; if that report is written and not handed over at the scene, it must be sent by certified mail with a copy to the Division.

A driver who knows or reasonably should know of a crash must stop immediately. If someone is injured or killed, the driver must stay with the vehicle until police finish the investigation or allow them to leave (except to call police or medical help or to avoid significant danger, then return), give their name, address, driver's license number and plate number to the person struck and occupants of other vehicles, and give reasonable help to the injured, including calling for medical assistance. Willfully leaving a crash causing serious bodily injury or death is a Class F felony (sentenced in the aggravated range if someone dies); leaving an injury crash is a Class H felony; failing to give information or aid is a Class 1 misdemeanor. In a property-damage-only crash, the driver must stop, exchange the same information, and stay if the crash is reportable; a willful violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor. For an unattended parked vehicle whose owner cannot be found, the driver must give the information to the nearest peace officer or leave a note and follow up within 48 hours.

By statute, a possessor of land (owner, lessee or other occupant) owes no duty of care to a trespasser and is not liable for a trespasser's injuries, except when the injury was caused by willful or wanton conduct or intentionally, when the possessor found the trespasser in a position of peril and failed to use ordinary care, or for child trespassers injured by an artificial condition when five listed conditions are met. The duties owed to lawful visitors come from North Carolina court decisions, which were not reviewed for this entry.

North Carolina cities have general authority and control over public streets, sidewalks, alleys and bridges within city limits, including the duty to keep them in proper repair and open for travel and free from unnecessary obstructions. A city can be sued in tort for injuries only to the extent it has waived governmental immunity by buying liability insurance (or joining a risk pool or designating a funded reserve), and any judgment is limited to the policy limits. The section read does not address the duties of owners of property next to a sidewalk.

Cities and counties in North Carolina are immune from tort suits for governmental functions except to the extent they waive immunity by buying liability insurance, joining a local government risk pool, or adopting a resolution treating a funded reserve as insurance; the waiver extends only to the amount of coverage, and a verdict above policy limits must be reduced to the limit. The city and county sections read do not set a specific statewide notice-of-claim deadline, and the ordinary statute of limitations and any other applicable notice rules still apply. Claims against the State itself go to the Industrial Commission under the State Tort Claims Act (covered separately).

An owner who lets people use land free of charge for educational or recreational purposes owes them only the same duty of care owed to a trespasser, but must warn direct invitees of artificial or unusual hazards the owner actually knows about, and the attractive-nuisance doctrine still applies. The limited duty does not apply to land regularly used for a purpose that usually carries a fee, or where people are invited to promote a commercial enterprise. Releases and assumption-of-risk agreements between owner and user remain valid.

All riders: a motorcycle or moped may not be operated unless the operator and all passengers wear safety helmets meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218, secured with a retention strap (enclosed or roll-cage autocycles are exempt). The statute says a violation is not negligence per se or contributory negligence per se in any civil action.

North Carolina's motorcycle statute gives motorcycles full use of a lane, forbids other vehicles from depriving a motorcycle of that use, and allows motorcycles to ride no more than two abreast in a single lane; it does not mention passing within a lane or riding between lanes. The general lane statute requires a vehicle on a roadway divided into marked lanes to be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and not moved from it until the driver has made sure it is safe.

Where traffic signals are not in place or not working, drivers must yield, slowing or stopping if needed, to pedestrians in a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at or near an intersection, and may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to vehicles, and between adjacent intersections with working signals pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk. Drivers must still use due care to avoid hitting any pedestrian and take proper precautions around children or confused or incapacitated people.

A driver overtaking another vehicle must pass at least two feet to the left of it. A driver may pass a bicycle or moped in a no-passing zone only if specific conditions are met, including leaving at least four feet of clearance or moving completely into the left lane. A parent or guardian may not knowingly let a child under 16 ride a bicycle as operator or passenger without a securely fastened helmet, but no negligence or liability may be assessed or imputed because of a violation of that rule.

While a rideshare (TNC) driver is logged on to the app but not providing service, primary auto liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for death or bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage is required, plus combined uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage meeting G.S. 20-279.21(b)(3) and (b)(4). While engaged in a prearranged ride, primary liability coverage of at least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury and property damage is required, plus combined UM/UIM coverage meeting the same statute. Coverage may come from the driver's policy, the company's policy or both.

North Carolina gives the State Highway Patrol power to set safety standards for motor carrier vehicles in foreign, interstate or intrastate commerce and to enforce state motor carrier rules and the federal safety and hazardous materials regulations, using the federal definitions in 49 CFR 390.5, with exemptions for certain farm vehicles and farmers in intrastate commerce. Federal rules separately require for-hire interstate carriers of ordinary (nonhazardous) property in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage (49 CFR 387.9).

Under North Carolina's Workers' Compensation Act, when the employer and employee are subject to and have complied with the Act, workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy against the employer. An injured construction worker may still sue a third party other than the employer (for example another contractor or an equipment maker), with the employer reimbursed from any recovery. No North Carolina scaffold-law statute was identified for this entry.