I recently got of the phone with a woman who was the victim of a serious Albuquerque car accident. Despite a solid injury case, I had to tell her she had no claim. It was unfortunately a common call to our personal injury law firm from accident victims asking about New Mexico Statutes of Limitations. Sadly, with many of these calls, people have the dates wrong. New Mexico medical malpractice, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, tort claims, and uninsured motorist claims may have different statutes of limitation. Factors such as a plaintiffs age and mental ability or the type of defendant may drastically affect the amount of time to file a New Mexico case.
All too often our New Mexico accident and injury lawyers have to tell seriously injured accident victims that they are out of time to pursue their case. It is never a pleasant call, and one we wish we could avoid.
Generally, New Mexico personal injury and accident claims are governed by a three year statute of limitations. However, various facts unique to each injury claim may result in a statute of only two years. Even worse, some cases require actions within days of the injury to preserve the claim. New Mexico personal injury attorneys and injury victims should be especially careful of cases involving medical malpractice or any government entity.
The moral, even if you don’t plan on hiring a New Mexico injury lawyer immediately, it is worth consulting with one regarding the intricacies of you cases. Just as we don’t enjoy telling people it is too late, it must be far worse to hear that on the other end of the phone.