A statute of limitations is a law that sets the maximum amount of time a person has to file a lawsuit after an event that gives rise to a claim. Once that window closes, the court will generally dismiss the case regardless of whether the claim has merit.
The clock usually starts on the date of "accrual" — the point at which the harm occurred or the claim first became legally actionable. For a car accident, that is typically the date of the crash. For a breach of contract, it is typically the date the agreement was broken.
Every state sets its own deadlines, and deadlines vary by claim type within the same state. A personal injury claim and a written contract claim in the same state can carry very different filing windows, which is why this register organizes deadlines by both state and claim type.
Missing the deadline does not just weaken a claim — it typically ends it. Courts treat an expired statute of limitations as an absolute bar to filing, with only narrow exceptions such as tolling or the discovery rule.