Deadlines
The part of a case that cannot be fixed later. They vary enormously by defendant and by claim type, and some of the shortest involve government entities.
Nothing on this page is advice about your situation, and no article can be. If you want your own facts looked at, a Minnesota personal injury attorney can do that.
It just happened
The first days. What to do, what not to say, and which clocks have already started.
- Which clocks start the day you are hurt
Minnesota does not have one injury deadline. It has a general six-year limitation, several much shorter ones, at least three notice periods that expire long before any of them, and a rule about when a lawsuit counts as started that surprises people.
- Claims against a city, county, or the state: the immunities come first, and the clock is short
Minnesota waived governmental immunity and then wrote the exceptions back in by statute. A claim against a public body has to survive a list of enumerated immunities, a damages cap, and a notice period that closes in 180 days.
- After a dog attack: the dangerous dog statutes, and what actually happens to the dog
Minnesota's dangerous dog law is a separate system from the statute that pays damages. It has its own definition of owner, its own definition of provocation, a 14-day clock, and a destruction provision that does not require a prior declaration.
When it goes wrong
Denials, lowball offers, disputed fault, and the deadlines that end a claim quietly.
- Wrongful death in Minnesota: the family does not hold the claim, a court-appointed trustee does
Minnesota's death statute vests the action in a trustee the court appoints, and the Minnesota Supreme Court has called an action started without one a legal nullity. The measure of damages was also rewritten in 2023, and most descriptions of it are out of date.
- A child's injury claim: who holds it, who signs for it, and why a judge has to approve the settlement
Minnesota does not let a parent settle a child's injury claim. A rule of practice requires a written petition and a written order before any part of the proceeds is paid to anyone, and it applies to a claim that was never filed as much as to a case that went to verdict.