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

Two years for an action to recover damages for injuries to the person caused by the wrongful act, neglect, unlawful violence or negligence of another. Assault, battery, false imprisonment and similar claims also have a two-year deadline.

Two years for taking, detaining or injuring personal property (such as a car), and two years for waste or trespass on real property.

The general two-year injury deadline applies. In addition, the MCARE Act sets a seven-year statute of repose: no medical professional liability claim may be filed more than seven years after the alleged malpractice. The repose period does not apply to a foreign object unintentionally left in the body. For a minor, the claim may be filed until the later of seven years after the malpractice or the minor's 20th birthday.

Two years for an action for the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or negligence of another. For wrongful death or survival claims based on medical malpractice, the action must be filed within two years after the death, unless the cause of death was misrepresented or fraudulently concealed.

The personal representative of the person who died brings the action, for the benefit of the spouse, children or parents. If no wrongful death action has been filed within six months after the death, the personal representative or any person entitled to recover may file it as trustee for everyone entitled to share. Damages are divided among the spouse, children or parents in the shares they would inherit without a will, and are not subject to the person's creditors. If none of those relatives exists, the personal representative may sue only for hospital, medical, funeral and estate administration expenses.

Modified comparative negligence (51% bar). An injured person's negligence does not bar recovery if it was not greater than the combined negligence of the defendants against whom recovery is sought; damages are reduced by the injured person's share. Each defendant's liability is generally several only (each pays its share), with exceptions such as intentional torts and defendants found 60% or more at fault.

No statute capping compensatory damages in ordinary personal injury cases between private parties was found. Damages caps apply to claims against Commonwealth agencies and local agencies (see government claims).

The MCARE Act does not cap compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases. It limits punitive damages against an individual physician to 200% of compensatory damages (except in cases of intentional misconduct). Punitive damages require willful or wanton conduct or reckless indifference; gross negligence is not enough. 25% of any punitive award against a health care provider goes to the MCARE Fund.

In medical malpractice cases, the MCARE Act allows punitive damages for willful or wanton conduct or reckless indifference to the rights of others, not for gross negligence, and caps them at 200% of compensatory damages against an individual physician (except for intentional misconduct). No general statute setting a standard of proof or cap for punitive damages in other injury cases was found; those rules come from case law.

Anyone planning to sue a government unit for injury to person or property must file a written notice within six months after the injury (with the government unit, and also with the Attorney General if the claim is against a Commonwealth agency) giving names, addresses, the date, time and location of the accident, and any attending physician. If not filed, the case will be dismissed unless the court finds a reasonable excuse. Damages against Commonwealth (state) agencies are capped at $250,000 per plaintiff and $1,000,000 in total per occurrence. Damages against local agencies are capped at $500,000 in total per occurrence, and pain and suffering is recoverable against local agencies only in cases of death or certain permanent injuries with medical expenses over $1,500.

Under the Dog Law, any cost to a bite victim for medical treatment resulting from an attacking or biting dog must be paid fully by the dog's owner or keeper. Other damages (such as pain and suffering) are not addressed by this provision and depend on general negligence and common-law rules.

Minimum financial responsibility is $15,000 for injury to one person, $30,000 for injury to two or more people in one accident, and $5,000 for property damage. Every policy must also include a $5,000 first-party medical benefit. Pennsylvania is a choice no-fault state: insurers must offer a choice between "full tort" coverage and a cheaper "limited tort" option, which limits the right to sue for pain and suffering.

The driver must immediately, by the quickest means available, notify the nearest police department if the crash involves injury or death, or if any vehicle is damaged so badly it cannot be driven safely and must be towed. If the driver cannot, a capable passenger must. Police must investigate every crash reported under this rule and give each driver a signed statement that it was reported. Pennsylvania sets no dollar threshold for this notice.

If a crash required to be reported to police (injury, death, or a vehicle needing to be towed) was not investigated by a police officer, each driver involved must send a written report to PennDOT within five days. If the driver is incapacitated and is not the owner, the owner must file within five days. PennDOT may require supplemental reports. These driver reports are confidential and generally cannot be used as evidence at trial.

A driver in a crash causing injury, death, or damage to an attended vehicle or property must stop at or as close to the scene as possible and stay until they have given their name, address and vehicle registration number, shown their license and insurance information if asked (to the people involved and to police), and given reasonable help to anyone injured, including arranging transport for treatment. If no one can receive the information and no officer is present, the driver must report to the nearest police office. Leaving an injury crash is a first-degree misdemeanor; if the victim suffers serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony with at least 90 days in jail and a $1,000 minimum fine; if the victim dies, a second-degree felony with at least three years in prison and a $2,500 minimum fine (no probation for these). Leaving a crash that damaged only an attended vehicle or property is a third-degree misdemeanor: a $2,500 fine and/or up to one year in jail.

A local agency (city, borough, township, county or other local government) can be liable for a dangerous condition of a sidewalk within the right-of-way of a street it owns, but only if the injured person proves the condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of that kind of injury and the agency had actual notice, or could reasonably be charged with notice, in time to take protective measures. When the agency's liability rests on its power to require others (such as abutting property owners) to install and repair sidewalks under their care, custody and control, the agency is only secondarily liable and those other persons are primarily liable. Sidewalks are excluded from the separate real-property exception. Written notice of the claim must generally be filed with the government unit within six months (see local government notice).

Anyone planning to sue a government unit for injury must, within six months after the injury, file in the office of the government unit a signed written statement giving the claimant's and injured person's names and addresses, the date and hour and approximate location of the accident, and any attending physician's name and address (for Commonwealth agencies, also with the Attorney General). If it is not filed, a suit started more than six months after the injury must be dismissed, though the court must excuse the failure on a showing of reasonable excuse; for local governments, up to 90 days of incapacity is not counted, and failure to give notice is not a bar if the government unit had actual or constructive notice of the incident or condition. Damages against a local agency are capped at $500,000 in the aggregate per occurrence, are limited to listed types of loss (pain and suffering only for death or certain permanent injuries with medical expenses over $1,500), and are reduced by non-life insurance benefits.

A landowner (including a tenant, lessee or occupant) owes no duty to keep land safe for, or warn, people who enter or use it for recreation, such as hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, hiking, snowmobiling, ATV and motorcycle riding or cave exploration. An owner who invites or permits recreational users without charge does not make them invitees or licensees and is not liable for injuries caused by their acts. The protection does not apply to willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure or activity, or where the owner charges recreational users to enter (consideration for a lease to the state or a political subdivision does not count as a charge). Voluntary contributions used only for conservation, property taxes or liability insurance are not a 'charge'.

All motorcycle operators and passengers must wear approved protective headgear, except: people 21 or older who have been licensed to ride a motorcycle for at least two full calendar years; people 21 or older who have completed an approved motorcycle safety course; passengers 21 or older riding with an exempt operator; and occupants of a three-wheeled motorcycle with an enclosed cab. All riders must also wear approved eye protection. The motorcycle helmet section does not say whether not wearing a helmet can reduce damages.

Banned. No person may operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles, and a motorcyclist may not pass in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being passed (police officers on duty excepted). Motorcycles are entitled to full use of a lane, and may not ride more than two abreast in a single lane.

Where traffic signals are not in place or not working, drivers must yield to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk or any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, and may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle so close as to be a hazard. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a crosswalk at an intersection or a marked crosswalk must yield to all vehicles; in urban districts, between adjacent intersections with working signals, pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk; and diagonal crossing at intersections is allowed only where authorized.

A person riding a bicycle (pedalcycle) on a roadway has the rights and duties of a vehicle driver. A motorist passing a bicycle going the same direction must pass to the left at least four feet away, at a careful and prudent reduced speed. Riders and passengers under 12 must wear an approved helmet (religious exemption available); by statute, a helmet violation or failure to wear a helmet may not be used as evidence or as contributory negligence in a civil case. Riding on sidewalks is allowed except in business districts (unless signs permit it) or where a usable bike-only lane is next to the sidewalk; riders on sidewalks must yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing them.

A transportation network company (TNC) driver, or the company on the driver's behalf, must carry primary auto insurance that recognizes TNC use. While logged on and available but not on a ride: liability of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, plus first-party medical benefits including $25,000 for pedestrians and $5,000 for the driver. While engaged in a prearranged ride: liability of at least $500,000 for death, bodily injury and property damage, plus first-party medical benefits including $25,000 for passengers and pedestrians and $5,000 for the driver. If the driver's coverage lapses or falls short, the company's insurer must pay from the first dollar. The statute does not list uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage among these requirements.

PennDOT's intrastate motor carrier rules incorporate by reference much of the federal motor carrier safety regulations (49 CFR parts 382, 385 and 390 to 396, which include hours of service and inspection, repair and maintenance) and the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, and apply them to commercial motor vehicles and motor carriers (common, contract or private) engaged in intrastate commerce. Federal minimum insurance for interstate carriers is in 49 CFR 387.9.

Injured construction workers' claims against their own employer go through workers' compensation: the employer's liability under the Act is exclusive and replaces all other liability to the worker and family. The worker may sue a third party who caused the injury (for example another contractor or an equipment maker), but the employer and its insurer cannot be made to pay that third party damages, contribution or indemnity unless a written contract made before the accident expressly provides for it. The employer is subrogated to the worker's third-party recovery to the extent of compensation paid.