Truck Accident Statute of Limitations in Connecticut (2026)

Your deadlines in Connecticut, calculated

Enter the date of your crash and the tool below will work out both clocks — the legal filing deadline and the much shorter window before the proof can be destroyed. Connecticut is already selected. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

What makes Connecticut different

Connecticut is unusually dangerous for a delayed claim. Its two-year period runs from the act or omission rather than from discovery, and it is capped by a three-year repose limit that can extinguish a claim before the claimant knew they had one. Tolling for minors is narrower than in most states. A defective-highway claim against a town requires written notice within 90 days.

The four Connecticut deadlines that matter

On the injury period: Connecticut also imposes a three-year outer repose period running from the act or omission, regardless of when the injury was discovered.

On the wrongful death period: Subject to an outer limit of five years from the act or omission.

Claims against a government entity in Connecticut

The shortest government notice window found for Connecticut — 90 days (highway defect) (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 13a-149). This is the deadline that quietly ends claims: it comes due long before the ordinary filing deadline, it is a precondition to suing rather than a suggestion, and missing it usually bars the claim entirely no matter how strong the case is.

Claims against the State are presented to the Office of the Claims Commissioner, which must grant permission before suit. Written notice to the town clerk within 90 days is required for a defective-highway claim, and Connecticut courts enforce it strictly.

Public fleets you could realistically be hit by in Connecticut: CTDOT maintenance trucks, CTtransit buses, municipal public works fleets, and regional school transportation contractors. If you are not certain whether the vehicle that hit you was one of these, work to the shorter deadline until somebody confirms otherwise. The downside is not symmetrical.

If the injured person was a minor

Limited in Connecticut under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584 — the clock generally does not start until the injured person turns 18. Connecticut's tolling for minors is narrower than most states and does not clearly extend § 52-584's repose period. Do not assume a minor's claim is safe.

That pause applies to the court deadline. It does not apply to the evidence. A carrier is entitled to destroy a driver's logs six months after the crash whether the injured person is 8 or 38, and in many states a government notice deadline is not tolled for a child either. A tolled filing deadline and an untouched evidence deadline is the most dangerous combination on this page.

When the Connecticut clock starts

Applies within repose. The two-year clock runs from discovery, but never past the three-year repose limit.

Why the evidence clock in Connecticut is much shorter

Connecticut's filing deadline is 2 years. The federal retention rules that govern the trucking company are measured in weeks and months:

• Dashcam and telematics video — often 30 days or less. No federal retention requirement — vendor and carrier policy only.
• ECM / black box data — overwritten as the tractor keeps running, and routinely lost when it is repaired or resold.
• Driver logs and records of duty status — six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)).
• Maintenance and repair records — one year while the vehicle is in the carrier's control (49 CFR § 396.3(c)).
• Annual inspection report — 14 months (49 CFR § 396.21(b)(1)).

The way to stop those clocks is a preservation letter to the carrier — a written demand that specific evidence be kept. Until it arrives, destroying records at the end of a retention period is routine and lawful. Our FMCSA regulations and evidence guide explains what each of these records contains.

Truck traffic in Connecticut

Connecticut sits between New York and Boston on one of the most congested freight corridors in the country. I-95 through Fairfield County carries interstate truck traffic on a road laid out long before modern tractor-trailers, and the Merritt Parkway's commercial vehicle ban forces that traffic onto a narrower set of routes.

The corridors where these crashes concentrate: I-95 along the shoreline, I-91 (New Haven–Hartford–Springfield), I-84 (Danbury–Waterbury–Hartford), I-395 toward Massachusetts and Route 8 and the Merritt Parkway truck restrictions.

Neighbouring states have different clocks

A crash a few miles across a state line can be governed by a completely different deadline. If you are not certain which state your crash happened in — near a border, on a bridge, or on an interstate you were travelling at speed — check both.

Or use the filing deadline calculator to compare any state, and the full state index for all 50 states and D.C.

What to do next in Connecticut

1. Get a preservation letter to the carrier. This is the most time-critical step and the one almost nobody hears about.
2. Confirm whether a government entity was involved. That answer can replace your 2 years deadline with a far shorter notice window — 90 days (highway defect).
3. Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company's insurer.
4. Request the Connecticut crash report, which identifies the carrier, the DOT number and the insurer.
5. Have a lawyer licensed in Connecticut confirm the dates above against the current statute.