Most people hurt in a Portland crash have two years to start an Oregon injury lawsuit. Section 12.110 is the usual rule for an injury to the person that does not arise on a contract and is not given a different period in that chapter. Filing a claim with an insurer is not how a lawsuit gets started. Section 12.020 treats an action as begun when the complaint is filed and the summons is served, with a narrow additional rule in that section.
There is also a 10-year repose in section 12.115, which does not lengthen a shorter period. If an insurer makes an advance payment, section 12.155 requires a written notice, within 30 days of the first payment and in the form the Department of Consumer and Business Services prescribes, about when the limitation period expires. If that notice is missing, the time between the first payment and the date a notice is actually given is not counted as part of the period.
If a City of Portland vehicle, a State of Oregon vehicle or another public body may have a role in the wreck, a written notice is generally due in 180 days, or one year in a death case, under section 30.275. The later lawsuit still has to be commenced within two years under 30.275(9). A death claim under section 30.020 has its own timing, including a discovery rule and an outer limit. Our deadline guide, our notice guide and our wrongful-death guide walk through those clocks.