The statute of limitations for assault in Pennsylvania depends on which track you are on. Prosecutors have two years to file simple assault charges and five years for aggravated assault. A victim who wants to sue for money damages has two years from the date of the incident, whether the claim is labeled assault, battery, or personal injury. Miss the deadline and the case is almost always finished for good.
Criminal Deadlines
Pennsylvania’s default criminal limitations period is two years from the date of the offense, and simple assault falls under that general rule.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5552 – Other Offenses
Aggravated assault is listed by statute among the “major offenses” that carry a five-year window.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5552 – Other Offenses The category exists because aggravated assault is a felony covering more dangerous conduct: serious bodily injury, injuries caused with a deadly weapon, and attacks on protected officials like police, firefighters, or teachers on duty.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 Section 2702 – Aggravated Assault Simple assault, by contrast, covers bodily injury caused intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, negligent injury with a deadly weapon, or threats of imminent serious harm, and it is graded as a misdemeanor.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 Chapter 27 – Assault
The criminal clock pauses in a few specific situations. It stops running any time the accused is continuously absent from Pennsylvania or has no reasonably ascertainable home or workplace in the state, and it stops while a prosecution for the same conduct is already pending.4Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5554 – Tolling of Statute
Civil Deadline
Criminal charges and civil lawsuits run on separate tracks. Even if prosecutors never file, the victim can sue for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Pennsylvania gives you two years from the date of the assault to file that civil action.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5524 – Two Year Limitation
The two-year window applies whether you plead the case as assault, battery, or a general personal injury claim. One day late is enough for a court to dismiss the case and end any chance of recovery.
When the Clock Starts
For both criminal and civil cases, the deadline generally runs from the date the assault happened. In most assault situations the victim knows immediately that they were harmed, so the start date is not in doubt.
Pennsylvania courts recognize a discovery rule in limited circumstances. When an injury is not immediately apparent or the victim could not reasonably have known about it at the time, the clock may start on the date the injury was or should have been discovered. It comes up more often in medical malpractice or toxic exposure cases than in assault, but it can matter when the full extent of an assault-related injury only becomes clear later.
Tolling for Minors
The civil rule for children is broad. If the victim was an unemancipated minor when the assault happened, the entire period of minority is excluded from the two-year deadline. The standard two-year clock only begins on the victim’s 18th birthday.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5533 – Infancy, Insanity or Imprisonment
The criminal tolling rule for child victims is narrower. It pauses the clock only when the child is under 18 and the injury was caused by a parent, someone responsible for the child’s welfare, a household member, or a parent’s romantic partner. A stranger-on-stranger assault of a minor does not trigger this criminal tolling provision.4Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5554 – Tolling of Statute
One point that catches people off guard on the civil side: insanity and imprisonment do not toll the civil statute of limitations under Pennsylvania law. The statute says so explicitly. Only minority pauses the civil clock here.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5533 – Infancy, Insanity or Imprisonment
Tolling When the Defendant Leaves or Hides
If the person who assaulted you was outside Pennsylvania when your cause of action arose, the two-year civil period does not start until they enter or return to the state. If they were in Pennsylvania at the time but later left for four or more continuous months, that absence does not count against the deadline. The same rule applies when the defendant is living in Pennsylvania under a false name that you do not know.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5532 – Absence or Concealment
There is an important limit. Absence tolling does not apply when the court can obtain jurisdiction over the defendant without physically serving them inside Pennsylvania. Long-arm jurisdiction or an appointed agent for service of process can eliminate the tolling benefit even if the defendant has left the state.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5532 – Absence or Concealment
Assaults by Police or Federal Officers
When a state or local government official commits the assault while acting under color of law, the victim may also have a federal civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Federal courts borrow the forum state’s personal injury deadline for these claims, so in Pennsylvania § 1983 also carries a two-year limit running from the date of the incident.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42-5524 – Two Year Limitation
If a federal law enforcement officer committed the assault, the Federal Tort Claims Act may apply. The FTCA generally excludes intentional torts like assault but makes an exception for acts by federal investigative or law enforcement officers. It requires an administrative claim filed with the responsible federal agency within two years of the incident before any lawsuit can be brought.
What Missing the Deadline Means
Once a statute of limitations runs out, the legal right to pursue the case is gone. Prosecutors cannot file charges no matter how strong the evidence. A court will dismiss a late civil lawsuit and the victim recovers nothing.
Defendants do not need to show that evidence went stale or that they were prejudiced by the delay. The expired deadline is enough on its own, and judges have essentially no discretion to make exceptions outside the tolling rules above. If you think you are anywhere near a limitations cutoff, treat it as urgent. Gathering evidence and preparing a filing takes time that cannot be compressed into the final days of the period.