Every legal matter has a specific amount of time that it can be filed in court. This varies according to the type of matter and the state in which it is filed. The statutes of limitation in Florida are fairly generous for most matters, especially when you compare them to other states.
Some examples of the time limits in this state include:
- Injury to person or personal property: 4 years
- Libel, slander: 2 years
- Professional malpractice: 2 years but medical may extend to 4 years
- Written contracts: 5 years
- Oral contracts: 4 years
For almost all cases, the time starts when the injury or incident occurs. There is an exception for some cases that involve a period of time when you didn’t know that there were damages associated with the issue. For example, if a person is involved in a car wreck but doesn’t display any symptoms for six months and then suddenly discovers they have a slow brain bleed that’s traced back to that accident, the time limit may not start until the discovery of the injury — although that would probably be disputed by the defense.
Anyone who is filing a legal complaint should know what time limit is present in their case. This allows them the opportunity to double-check that things are being handled before their ability to make the claim expires.
Because of the long time limits, there is never an excuse for your attorney to miss filing your case before the time limit runs out. If you have a problem with an attorney who failed to handle your case in a timely manner, you may have a case for legal malpractice.