Police Brutality & Civil Rights
Statutes of Limitations
4 statutes with plain-language summaries, case relevance, source links, and related Michigan practice areas.
Statutory text checked against the Michigan Compiled Laws, complete through PA 16 of 2026, on June 12, 2026.
Statutes of Limitations
4 statutes"Subject to subsections (4) to (6), the period of limitations is 2 years for an action charging assault, battery, or false imprisonment."Read Full Statute
Michigan state-law claims charging assault, battery, or false imprisonment generally have a 2-year limitations period under MCL 600.5805(3), subject to the statute's longer domestic-relationship and criminal-sexual-conduct periods. Federal excessive-force claims under § 1983 usually borrow Michigan's 3-year personal-injury period in MCL 600.5805(2).
The state-law deadline can expire before the federal § 1983 deadline. A police-misconduct case must be screened for both tracks immediately, especially when assault, battery, or false imprisonment claims may be pleaded alongside the federal claim.
We calendar the shortest plausible deadline first, issue preservation letters quickly, and separate state intentional-tort timing from federal constitutional timing.
"Except as otherwise provided in this section, the period of limitations is 3 years after the time of the death or injury for all actions to recover damages for the death of a person or for injury to a person or property."Read Full Statute
MCL 600.5805(2) is Michigan's general 3-year period for injury-to-person or property actions unless a more specific period applies. Federal § 1983 claims generally borrow this 3-year Michigan personal-injury period, while some state tort claims have shorter periods.
The 3-year federal window does not make every related state-law claim timely. Assault, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, Court of Claims notice, and claim-specific statutes must be checked separately.
We identify every legal theory at intake and calendar the controlling deadline for each claim rather than assuming all civil-rights theories share one clock.
"Except as otherwise provided, the period of limitations runs from the time the claim accrues. The claim accrues at the time provided in sections 5829 to 5838, and in cases not covered by these sections, at the time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done regardless of the time when damage results."Read Full Statute
MCL 600.5827 generally starts Michigan limitation periods when the wrong on which the claim is based was done, regardless of when damage results, unless another statute provides a different rule. Federal § 1983 accrual is a federal-law question and can use a different rule for claims such as malicious prosecution.
A state-law tort claim and a federal constitutional claim arising from the same police encounter can have different accrual rules. Wrongful prosecution, conviction-related, and delayed-injury issues require claim-by-claim review.
We separate state accrual from federal accrual, then calculate deadlines for each theory before deciding what can still be filed.
"All other personal actions shall be commenced within the period of 6 years after the claims accrue and not afterwards unless a different period is stated in the statutes."Read Full Statute
For personal actions that do not have a different limitations period stated elsewhere, Michigan provides a 6-year catch-all period. It is a fallback rule, not the default for ordinary police-misconduct torts or § 1983 claims.
This provision is rarely the primary deadline in straightforward excessive-force, false-arrest, or assault-and-battery matters because more specific limitation periods usually control.
We consider the catch-all only after checking the specific tort, civil-rights, Court of Claims, and federal accrual rules that may govern the claim.