Statutes of Limitations

Before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Michigan, a claimant generally must send a formal Notice of Intent (NOI) to each health professional or health facility that is the subject of the claim and wait 182 days. The statute also includes a shorter 91-day notice period in limited newly identified defendant situations.

If you skip the NOI or file suit before the 182 days expire, your case can be dismissed. This is one of the most common ways malpractice claims are lost before they even start.

We draft and serve compliant NOIs immediately upon intake so no time is wasted and the clock is managed correctly from day one.

Michigan's Wrongful Death Act allows the personal representative of the estate to bring a civil lawsuit when a person is killed by someone else's negligence or wrongful act. The law defines who may claim damages, what damages are available, and how the court distributes any recovery.

If you lost a family member due to negligence, this statute is the legal foundation of your claim. It allows recovery for loss of financial support and contributions, loss of society and companionship, medical and funeral expenses, and conscious pain and suffering before death.

We have obtained some of Michigan's largest wrongful death verdicts under this statute, including a $5,000,000 verdict in a semi-truck wrongful death case.

This is Michigan's primary limitations statute for injury, death, and property-damage claims. The general period is 3 years after the death or injury, but the statute contains shorter and longer claim-specific periods for malpractice, assault and battery, malicious prosecution, libel and slander, criminal sexual conduct, products liability, and other claims.

If you wait too long to hire a lawyer, your case may be permanently barred — no matter how strong your evidence is. The applicable deadline depends on the claim type, accrual rule, tolling rules, and any special notice requirements.

We immediately calendar all limitation deadlines on intake and aggressively investigate before they expire.

For personal actions that do not have a different limitations period stated elsewhere, Michigan uses a 6-year catch-all period. It is a backstop, not the first rule for ordinary injury claims that are covered by more specific statutes.

Rarely relied on in standard injury cases, but important for unusual claims where no more specific limitation period applies.

Used as a fallback argument when insurance companies challenge the timeliness of an unusual claim.

This statute defines when a legal claim 'accrues' — meaning when the statute of limitations clock starts ticking. In most cases, the claim accrues on the date the wrong was done, not when the victim discovered it.

This rule can be pivotal when the defense argues the claim accrued earlier than the client realizes. Discovery-based arguments usually require a more specific statute or doctrine, so the exact accrual statute matters.

We use accrual arguments strategically to preserve claims that insurers argue are time-barred.

For non-medical professional malpractice claims covered by this section, the claim generally accrues when the professional discontinues serving the plaintiff in the matter out of which the malpractice claim arose. The statute also allows a 6-month discovery period in qualifying cases, subject to the plaintiff's burden of proof.

This statute matters when a professional-services negligence claim turns on when the professional relationship ended and when the client discovered, or should have discovered, the claim.

We identify the correct professional-service endpoint and evaluate whether the 6-month discovery period preserves a malpractice claim that the defense argues is late.

Medical malpractice claims generally accrue at the time of the act or omission that is the basis for the claim, regardless of when the plaintiff discovers it. The claim may use the applicable limitation period or a 6-month discovery period, but is generally barred more than 6 years after the act or omission, subject to statutory exceptions.

If your injury was caused by a medical error years ago, the 6-month discovery rule, the 6-year repose period, minor-specific rules, reproductive-injury rules, and fraudulent-concealment rules all may need review before anyone can safely calculate the deadline.

We evaluate every malpractice case immediately for repose issues to avoid losing viable claims.

Claims against architects, engineers, and contractors for defective or unsafe improvements to real property generally must be brought within 6 years after occupancy, use, or acceptance of the improvement. For qualifying gross-negligence defects, there is a 1-year discovery period, but no more than 10 years after occupancy, use, or acceptance.

Relevant in premises liability, construction defect, and construction accident cases where the defect was built into the structure long ago. The 10-year period is an outside cap for the gross-negligence discovery path, not the ordinary deadline.

Analyzed in slip and fall and construction defect cases to determine whether the property owner has a repose defense.

If the person entitled to sue is under 18 or legally insane when the claim accrues, Michigan generally gives 1 year after the disability is removed to bring the action even if the ordinary limitations period has run. The disability must exist when the claim accrues, and medical malpractice claims involving minors have separate age-based rules.

A child's claim may have extra time, but the deadline is not simply '3 years after turning 18.' The exact date depends on the underlying claim, when the claim accrued, whether the ordinary period has already run, and the special malpractice rules for children.

We use tolling to protect children's claims when parents delay in seeking legal help.

If a person dies before the original limitations period runs, or within 30 days after it runs, the personal representative may have 2 years after letters of authority are issued to commence a surviving action, even though the original period has run. The statute also has an outside limit: the action cannot be commenced later than 3 years after the original limitations period has run.

This provision can protect families when death occurs near the end of the original limitations period, but it is technical. Probate timing, the underlying claim type, the first letters of authority in malpractice cases, and the outside 3-year cap all matter.

Applied in cases where the injured person dies before the claim is filed or near the end of the original limitations period.

If a defendant fraudulently concealed the cause of action, the statute of limitations is tolled until the plaintiff discovers or should have discovered the fraud. The plaintiff then has 2 years from that discovery.

Critical in cases where a company, employer, or government agency hid evidence of wrongdoing. The clock didn't run while they were hiding the truth.

Used in cases involving employer cover-ups, destruction of evidence, or deliberate misrepresentation of injury causes.

The limitations or repose period may be tolled when the complaint is filed and the summons and complaint are served within the time set by the Michigan Supreme Court rules, when jurisdiction over the defendant is otherwise acquired, or when medical-malpractice notice is given under MCL 600.2912b and the claim would otherwise be barred during the notice period.

This statute can preserve a claim in specific filing, service, jurisdiction, and medical-malpractice NOI situations. It does not create a broad tolling rule for every delay, and service timing must be checked carefully.

We analyze all tolling provisions before accepting or declining any case with potential limitations issues.