Most people hurt in a Portland crash have two years to start an Oregon injury lawsuit. Treatment can stretch for months, and an adjuster may still be talking, but that clock does not pause on its own. 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. The action has to be started within two years.
That is the usual rule for a crash claim against a careless driver. The two years are not a courtesy reminder from an insurer. Once the period has expired, a judge can dismiss the suit even if the wreck looks clear-cut and the medical chart is long. Mark the crash date early, and speak with counsel with months to spare, especially if a public vehicle may be involved or a police report has not arrived yet.
When the lawsuit is actually started
Filing a claim with an insurance company is not how a lawsuit gets started in court. Section 12.020 of the same chapter, which you should read with 12.110, treats an action as begun when the complaint is filed and the summons is served, with a narrow additional rule in that section. Do not assume that a demand letter, a PIP claim or a spoken statement starts the lawsuit clock over. Those steps can matter. They do not replace a filing.
There is also an outer limit. Section 12.115 says that a negligence action for injury to a person or to property may not be started more than 10 years after the negligent act or omission at issue. That repose rule does not lengthen a shorter deadline. For a typical Portland crash, the two-year period in 12.110 is the one that usually matters. The 10-year provision is a backstop, not an extra gift of time.
Advance payments can change the running of the clock
Insurers sometimes send an early check for wages or medical bills while they are still investigating. Oregon has a special notice rule for those payments. Under section 12.155, if a person who makes an advance payment of the kind described in ORS 31.560 or 31.565 gives each person entitled to recover damages a written notice, not later than 30 days after the first of those payments, of the date the limitation period expires, then making the payment does not suspend the running of the period. The notice has to be in the form prescribed by the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services.
If that notice is not given, the time between the first advance payment and the date a notice is actually given is not part of the period limited for starting the action. In plain terms, a missing 12.155 notice can pause the two-year clock until the notice arrives. Do not guess whether a check you cashed was an advance payment, and do not guess whether a valid notice went out. Keep the checks, the envelopes and any form that came with them, and have a lawyer apply the statute to those papers.
A public vehicle is a different first step
If the other driver was in a vehicle owned by the City of Portland, the State of Oregon or another public body, section 30.275 generally requires a notice of claim before you can maintain the action. For ordinary injury claims that notice is due within 180 days after the alleged loss or injury. For wrongful death it is due within one year. The two-year period for starting the later lawsuit still applies under subsection (9) of that section. Our government notice guide walks through what the writing has to contain and where it has to go.
That notice is not a substitute for the lawsuit itself. You can send a timely 30.275 statement and still miss the two-year commencement date if no action is filed. Write both dates down during the first week, and keep them where you will see them.
Death claims use a different statute
A fatal crash is not handled as a simple 12.110 injury action. Section 30.020 creates a wrongful death action that the personal representative brings, and it uses a three-year discovery period with a separate outer limit measured from death or from an applicable repose statute. Our wrongful death guide covers who the action is for and what damages the statute allows. Do not assume the ordinary two-year injury period is the only clock in a death case, and do not assume you can wait until the estate paperwork is finished.
Where a Portland case is filed
For a crash in the Nob Hill area, the usual civil court in Multnomah County is the Circuit Court at the Central Courthouse, 1200 SW 1st Ave, Portland, OR 97204. The court’s published hours and the civil desk telephone number are in our courts guide. The city of Portland also reaches into Washington County and Clackamas County. If the wreck happened in one of those parts of the city, the case may belong in that county’s circuit court instead. File in the county of the crash, not simply the county on a mailing label.
If you are close to two years, do not sit still for a complete medical outlook or a report that has not arrived. Put the filing question in front of an Oregon injury lawyer, and look up whether the license is still active. The report, the bills and the declarations page can still come in after counsel has the deadline on a calendar. Holding the file until every paper is in hand is how otherwise solid claims expire.