Source: https://www.patrickmalonelaw.com/useful-information/health-care-advocates-power-kit/legal-deadlines-lawsuit/legal-deadlines-filing-personal-injury-lawsuit-district-columbia/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 21:55:11+00:00

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Here are the deadlines — also known as statutes of limitations — for filing various types of personal injury lawsuits in the District of Columbia.
Three years from the date when the plaintiff know, or by reasonable diligence should know of all three of these: (1) an injury, (2) its cause, and (3) some evidence of wrongdoing. This applies to negligence cases. Most intentional harms have a one-year deadline.
The lawsuit itself follows the same deadlines as apply to cases against non-government defendants.
A letter notifying the provider of the claim must be sent at least 90 days before suit is filed. The letter needs to outline the claim in some detail. See D.C. Code § 16-2801. Failure to send this notice letter can be cause for having a lawsuit thrown out of court. SeeLacek v. Washington Hospital Center Corp., 978 A.2d 1194 (D.C. 2009).
The District of Columbia applies the continuing treatment doctrine to determine when the limitations period begins if a patient is undergoing a course of treatment with a healthcare provider who commits malpractice. If malpractice occurs during the continuous treatment of a particular ailment or condition, the statute of limitations begins to run when the treatment by the healthcare provider for that injury or condition ends.Anderson v. George, 717 A.2d 876 (D.C. 1998).
These are third-party claims where the plaintiff has made a worker’s compensation claim in connection with same injury.
Six months from accepting the worker’s compensation award. See D.C. Code § 32-1535(b) and Biratu v. BT Vermont Ave., LLC, 962 A.2d 26 (D.C. 2008). Note: This 6-month deadline applies after either an award from the Commission or a settlement, which must be approved by the Commission. The clock starts to tick on the 6-month deadline on the date of the order by the Commission, or the date of the approval of any settlement by the Commission.
One year deadline for “libel, slander, assault, battery, mayhem, wounding, malicious prosecution, false arrest, or false imprisonment.” D.C. Code Ann. § 12-301(4).
If a person is under 18 years of age when the injury happened, the lawsuit clock does not start ticking on the deadline until the 18th birthday, which means that in most negligence cases (but not those against the federal government) the deadline in D.C. is the child’s 21st birthday.
These cases are examples of why it always pays to check with a lawyer to see if some exception might extend the deadline further.
Bussineau v. President and Dirs. Of Georgetown College, 518 A.2d 423, 435 (D.C. 1986) – establishing the “triple trigger” rule.
Brin v. S.E.W. Investors, 902 A.2d 784 (D.C. 2006) – example of a case where the court decided the clock only started running after the plaintiff was told by her doctor that there was a causal connection between her ailments and working in the building that she was worried about.
Wagner v. Sellinger, 847 A.2d 1151 (D.C. 2004) – clock didn’t start to run until actual harm had occurred due to lawyer’s alleged malpractice, even though plaintiff had fired same lawyer much earlier.
Doe v. Medlantic Health Care Group, Inc., 814 A.2d 939 (D.C. 2003) – reversing dismissal of a case where the plaintiff arguably was diligent in trying to get to the bottom of who had spread a rumor about him even though his suspicions started quite a long time before he sued.
Click here for access to the District of Columbia Code, including the above cited sections.

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