Wisconsin Statute of Limitations: Deadlines, Tolling, and Notice

The Wisconsin statute of limitations sets how long you have to file a legal claim, and the deadline depends on what kind of claim it is. Personal injury and most intentional tort claims run three years. Written and oral contract disputes run six years. Most felony prosecutions run six years, and most misdemeanors three. A handful of situations run shorter, longer, or have no deadline at all, and missing the right one almost always ends the case.

Common Deadlines at a Glance

Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, and Intentional Torts

Three years is the baseline for personal injury in Wisconsin. Car accidents, slip-and-fall incidents, and other negligence-based injuries all fall under the same three-year window, measured from the date of the injury.¹

Wrongful death gets the same three years, with one exception that catches families off guard: if the death resulted from a motor vehicle accident, the deadline drops to two years.¹

Intentional torts, meaning harms done on purpose rather than through carelessness, also carry a three-year deadline. The category includes assault, battery, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, and defamation (both libel and slander).³ The clock starts when the act happens, not when you find out about it. If someone publishes a defamatory statement about you, the three years begin on the publication date even if you learn about it months later.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice runs on a layered timeline. You get the later of three years from the date of injury or one year from the date you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the harm. No matter when discovery happens, no claim can be filed more than five years after the negligent act or omission.² That five-year ceiling is absolute.

Children get a modified rule. A minor injured by medical malpractice must file within the standard adult malpractice deadlines or by the child’s tenth birthday, whichever is later.¹⁰ A two-year-old injured during surgery has until age ten. A twelve-year-old injured during treatment has only the standard adult window, because those deadlines already run past the tenth birthday.

Contracts and Property

Breach of contract gets six years in Wisconsin, and the deadline is the same for written and oral agreements.⁴ What differs is the proof. Without documentation, showing what was actually promised becomes much harder at trial.

Sales of goods fall under Wisconsin’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code and also carry a six-year deadline, covering defective products, undelivered goods, and similar commercial disputes. Merchants can agree in advance to shorten the period, but not below one year.⁵

Damage to real or personal property also runs six years from the date of damage.⁶ A neighbor’s construction project cracking your foundation, or someone destroying your belongings, both fall here. Intentional trespass is different: it falls under the three-year intentional tort rule.³

Fraud and the Discovery Rule

Fraud carries a three-year deadline, but the clock does not start until you discover the fraud or reasonably should have discovered it.⁷ That trigger changes the math. Someone tricked into a bad property deal in 2020 who uncovers the deception in 2025 has until 2028 to file. Courts have held that discovery occurs when you learn enough to make a reasonable person investigate further.

Criminal Prosecution Deadlines

The state has its own clock. Most felonies must be charged within six years of the offense, and most misdemeanors within three.⁹

Some crimes have no deadline at all. First-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, felony murder, second-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree sexual assault of a child can be prosecuted at any time.⁹ A victim of first-degree child sexual assault can come forward decades later and charges can still be filed.

Other sex offenses get extended windows. Second-degree and third-degree sexual assault must be prosecuted within ten years. Second-degree sexual assault of a child and sexual exploitation of a child must be prosecuted before the victim reaches age 45.⁹

Suing a Government Body: the 120-Day Notice

If your claim is against a Wisconsin city, county, school district, or public employee acting in an official capacity, you have to clear an extra step before any lawsuit can be filed. A written notice of claim must be served within 120 days of the event that caused your injury.⁸ Missing that 120-day notice is one of the most common ways people lose an otherwise valid claim. Treat it as the real deadline whenever the defendant is a government body.

When the Clock Pauses

Wisconsin recognizes several circumstances that pause or extend a filing deadline. These are called tolling provisions.

Minors

When a cause of action arises while someone is under 18, the statute of limitations generally does not begin running until the person reaches adulthood. The usual deadline then applies from that point. Medical malpractice is the exception, governed by the special rule that requires filing by the child’s tenth birthday or within the standard malpractice deadlines, whichever is later.¹⁰

Discovery of a Hidden Injury

When harm is not immediately apparent, the deadline may not start until you discover it or reasonably should have. This matters most in medical malpractice, where you get one year from discovery even if the standard three-year window has closed (subject to the five-year ceiling),² and in fraud, where the entire three years runs from the date of discovery.⁷

Defendant Outside Wisconsin

If a defendant is out of Wisconsin when the cause of action arises, or leaves afterward, time spent outside the state does not count toward the deadline.¹¹ This prevents someone from running out the clock by relocating. The rule does not apply to corporations that keep a registered agent in Wisconsin for accepting legal papers.

Active Military Service

Federal law pauses state statutes of limitations for active-duty service members. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, time spent in military service does not count toward any state filing deadline, including Wisconsin’s.¹²

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

An expired statute of limitations is one of the few defenses that ends a case immediately, regardless of the facts. The defendant raises it, and the court must dismiss the claim without examining whether it has merit.¹³ Judges have no discretion to make exceptions unless a recognized tolling rule applies.

The practical fallout starts earlier than the courtroom. Once the deadline passes, defendants and insurance companies have no reason to negotiate, because they know any suit would be thrown out. Whatever leverage you had evaporates. In criminal matters, an expired deadline permanently bars prosecution, even if compelling new evidence surfaces later. The strongest case means nothing if the clock has run out, so if you think you have a claim, figure out which deadline applies and work backward from it before anything else.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.54 – Injury to the Person
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.55 – Medical Malpractice Limitation of Actions
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.57 – Intentional Torts
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.43 – Action on Contract
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 402.725 – Statute of Limitations in Contracts for Sale
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.52 – Action for Damages for Injury to Property
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.93 – Miscellaneous Actions
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.80 – Claims Against Governmental Bodies or Officers
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 939.74 – Time Limitations on Prosecutions
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.56 – Health Care Providers Minors Actions
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 893.19 – Limitation When Person Out of State
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 U.S. Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations
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Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 802.06 – Defenses and Objection When and How Presented