What Is the Statute of Limitations in Oregon?

The statute of limitations in Oregon runs anywhere from two years to no limit at all, depending on what the case is about. Most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years. Breach of contract, property damage, and most consumer debt collection get six years. Wrongful death gets three. On the criminal side, misdemeanors expire in two years, most felonies in three, and murder has no deadline. Miss the applicable date and the courthouse door closes for good, no matter how strong the claim.

Here is how the main deadlines break down.

Personal Injury

Two years. That window covers car accidents, slip-and-fall injuries, assault, and almost any physical harm that doesn’t come out of a contract.¹ The clock starts the day of the injury. File one day late and a court will dismiss the case.

Claims based on fraud or deceit work a little differently. The two-year period doesn’t begin until you actually discover the fraud, or until you reasonably should have discovered it.¹

Wrongful Death

Three years, measured from when the injury causing the death is discovered or reasonably should have been. The lawsuit also can’t be filed later than three years after the death itself.²

That second limit matters when a long gap separates the harm from the death. Someone injured in 2023 who doesn’t die until 2028 may already be past the three-year window on the injury side before the death happens at all.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice stacks two deadlines on top of each other, and both can defeat your case.

The first is a discovery rule: two years from the date you discovered the injury, or should have discovered it.¹ If a surgeon leaves a sponge inside you and it takes a year to find out, that’s when your two years start.

The second is an absolute five-year cutoff from the date of the treatment itself. Oregon calls this a statute of repose, and it overrides the discovery rule. Learn about the harm in year six and you are out of time. The only exception is fraud, deceit, or misleading representation by the provider; then you get two years from the date you discover the deception.¹ The five-year repose also overrides the usual tolling for minors, so a child injured in treatment faces the same hard cutoff.

Contracts, Property Damage, and Debt

Six years. That window covers breach of contract (written or oral), damage to real property such as a home or land, and damage to personal property like a vehicle or belongings.³

The same six years governs consumer debt. Credit card balances, medical bills, auto loans, and similar obligations are contracts, so a creditor or debt collector has six years to sue over an unpaid balance. After that the debt still exists, but it isn’t enforceable in court. If a collector threatens suit on a debt older than six years, the statute of limitations is a complete defense.

When the clock starts depends on the facts. Oregon treats a cause of action as accruing when it is discovered or should have been discovered, which can push the start date later if the breach wasn’t obvious. For account-based debts, it runs from the date of the last charge or payment.⁴

Suing a Government Body

Claims against a state agency, city, county, or other public body come with a short extra deadline that catches people off guard. Before you can file a lawsuit, you have to submit a formal tort claim notice. For most claims that notice is due within 180 days of the injury or loss. For wrongful death against a public body, you get one year.⁵

Send the notice to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services for state claims, or to the principal administrative office of the relevant local government. Miss the notice deadline and you lose the right to sue, even if the underlying statute of limitations would have given you years more.⁵

Criminal Charges

Oregon sorts criminal filing deadlines by the seriousness of the offense.⁶

No limit: murder, attempted murder, aggravated murder, conspiracy or solicitation to commit murder or aggravated murder, and manslaughter of any degree.
20 years: first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, and first-degree sexual abuse. If the victim was under 18, charges can also be brought anytime before the victim turns 30, whichever is later.
6 years: arson, second- and third-degree sexual offenses, child exploitation crimes, incest, and compelling prostitution. Several of these also carry the under-18 victim extension. Robbery, forgery, identity theft, and fraud against victims age 65 or older also sit in this category.
3 years: all other felonies.
2 years: all misdemeanors.

The under-18 victim rule is worth noting on its own, because it gives adult survivors of childhood abuse a realistic path to seeing charges brought years after the fact.

Employment Discrimination

Oregon has one of the longest state windows in the country for workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. You have up to five years to file a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) or to file a lawsuit directly, as long as the incident occurred on or after September 29, 2019.⁷

The federal route is much tighter. A charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is normally due within 180 days of the discriminatory act. Because Oregon has its own anti-discrimination agency, that federal window extends to 300 days. Weekends and holidays count toward the total, but if the deadline lands on a weekend or holiday you get until the next business day. For harassment, the deadline runs from the last incident, not the first.⁸

When the Clock Pauses

Oregon recognizes a handful of situations that pause the statute of limitations, a concept called tolling. Time that passes during a tolling period doesn’t count against the deadline.

Minors

If a person is under 18 when the cause of action arises, the clock pauses until they turn 18. The extension has a cap: no more than five years total, or no more than one year after the person turns 18, whichever comes first.⁹ A 16-year-old hurt in a car accident has until age 19 to file, not until age 20. The five-year cap matters more for younger children.

Mental Incapacity

The same framework applies when someone has a mental condition that prevents them from understanding their legal rights at the time the cause of action accrues. The clock pauses while the incapacity lasts, up to five years total or one year after the condition ends, whichever is shorter.⁹

Active Military Service

Federal law pauses all state statutes of limitations for the entire period a person is on active military duty. The servicemember doesn’t have to prove that service actually prevented filing. Active duty includes absence for sickness, wounds, leave, or other authorized cause, so overseas deployment isn’t required. The pause applies whether the servicemember is bringing a claim or defending against one.¹⁰

Government Claims Notice

The 180-day tort claim notice for suits against public bodies has its own tolling rule. If the injured person is physically unable to give notice because of the injury, or is a minor or incapacitated, the notice window can stretch by up to 90 additional days.⁵

1
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Revised Statutes 12.110 – Actions for Certain Injuries to Person Not Arising on Contract
2
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Revised Statutes 30.020 – Action for Wrongful Death; When Commenced; Damages
3
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Revised Statutes 12.080 – Action on Certain Contracts or Liabilities
4
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 12
5
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Revised Statutes 30.275 – Notice of Claim; Time of Notice; Time of Action
6
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 131.125 – Time Limitations
7
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Discrimination at Work
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge
9
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Revised Statutes 12.160 – Suspension for Minors and Persons Who Have Disabling Mental Condition
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 U.S. Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations