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Indiana injury rights, deadlines, and help

If you were hurt in Indiana, you probably have one big question: how long do I have to act, and what should I do first? This page answers that in plain words, with links to the law text so you can check every number yourself.

The deadlines that matter in Indiana

These numbers come from the current published Indiana Code. Medical claims can have different, often shorter deadlines. Minors and some other people may get extra time. Laws change, so treat these as starting points, not legal advice for your exact case.

What to do first

  1. Get medical care now. Your health comes first, and the medical record it creates also protects your claim.
  2. Report the injury in writing. Work injury: tell your employer in writing today, not on day 29. Crash: call the police and get the report number. Fall or dog bite: tell the property owner or dog owner and keep proof you did.
  3. Save everything. Photos of the scene and your injuries, names of witnesses, receipts, and every letter or text about the incident.
  4. Ask one question early: was the government involved? A fall at a public school, a crash with a county plow, a defect in a city sidewalk. If yes, your notice window may be only 180 days.
  5. Do not sign anything from an insurance company yet. A release signed early can end your claim forever, even for injuries no one has found yet.
Not sure which deadline applies to you? Tell us what happened at /start/. It is free, and we will help you sort it out.

Common situations in Indiana

Hurt at work

Indiana workers' compensation (the no-fault system that pays for work injuries) puts your benefits on hold if your employer gets no notice within 30 days. Report in writing the same day anyway, and keep a copy. The formal 2-year claim clock is separate from the report deadline, and missing either one can cost you.

Hurt on the road

Car, motorcycle, bike, and pedestrian injuries generally fall under the 2-year lawsuit deadline. Indiana normally uses a modified comparative fault rule: your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and you recover nothing if your share passes 50 percent. Ind. Code 34-51-2-6. But here is the Indiana trap: that rule does not apply to claims against government bodies. In those cases the old contributory negligence rule still controls, which means any fault on your part, even a small share, can bar your recovery completely. If a government vehicle or road is involved, careful fact-gathering from day one matters more than anywhere else.

Hurt on someone's property, or by a dog

Slip and fall cases follow the same 2-year clock, with the short notice windows if the property is public. For dog bites, Indiana mostly follows the older "one bite" approach: you generally need to show the owner knew or should have known the dog was dangerous, or was otherwise careless. A statute gives automatic liability only for people doing official duties, like mail carriers. Ind. Code 15-20-1-3. Law text Evidence about the dog's history matters, so start gathering it early.

An Indiana story worth knowing

Lloyd Perry believed doctors and hospitals in Indiana had injured him. In 2010, he filed a malpractice complaint with the state on his own, with no lawyer. Indiana law sends these cases to a medical review panel first, and the panel decided the care did not cause his injuries. To keep his case alive, Perry needed his own medical expert to disagree with the panel. Any experienced lawyer would have known that and hired one. Acting alone, he filed only a short brief and his own statement. The trial court threw out his case without a trial, and the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed in 2014, noting that self-represented people are held to the same rules as licensed attorneys. His claim ended without anyone ever weighing the evidence. Pro se medical malpractice claim fails without expert testimony, The Indiana Lawyer

The lesson is not that he was wrong to fight. The system demands specific proof, presented the right way, at the right time. Most people cannot do that alone, and that is exactly why having an advocate helps.

What we can help with

We are not a law firm and we do not charge injured people anything. We are your advocate. Here is what that looks like:

Our help is always free to you. We never take money from injured people.

Tell us what happened

If you or someone you love was hurt in Indiana, you do not have to figure this out alone. Share your story at /start/ and we will point you in the right direction. No pressure, no cost.

Sources

Last reviewed: 2026-08-16

This is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines can change or vary with the facts. A licensed attorney can confirm the rule for your situation.