Pennsylvania Limited Tort: Serious Injury and the Exceptions

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

If you are bound by Pennsylvania's limited tort option, you may recover economic loss but not noneconomic loss unless you have a serious injury, meaning death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement, or one of the listed exceptions applies.

The rule

75 Pa.C.S. 1705(d) says each person who elects limited tort remains eligible to seek compensation for economic loss under tort law, but unless the injury is a serious injury is precluded from maintaining an action for any noneconomic loss. Section 1702 defines serious injury as a personal injury resulting in death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement.

Exceptions: the other driver

You recover as if you had full tort when the person at fault is convicted of, or accepts Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition for, driving under the influence in that accident; is operating a vehicle registered in another state; intends to injure himself or another person; or has not maintained required financial responsibility.

Other exceptions

You keep full tort rights against a person in the business of designing, manufacturing, repairing, servicing or maintaining motor vehicles for a defect they caused or did not correct, and if you were injured as an occupant of a motor vehicle other than a private passenger motor vehicle.

Who is bound

The tort option elected by a named insured applies to all private passenger motor vehicle policies of that named insured with the same insurer and to all insureds on the policy who are not named insureds elsewhere. Where policies conflict, you are bound by the option on the policy of the vehicle you occupied, if you are an insured on it, and by full tort otherwise. No insurer may cancel, refuse to write or refuse to renew a policy based on the option chosen.

Fault and deadlines

Contributory negligence does not bar recovery if it is not greater than the causal negligence of the defendants, and damages are diminished in proportion (42 Pa.C.S. 7102). An action for injuries to the person must be commenced within two years (5524). See Pennsylvania comparative negligence and Pennsylvania statute of limitations.

Using the calculator

The Pennsylvania calculator tests your tort option, the serious injury categories and each exception. For how non-economic damages are valued, see Pennsylvania pain and suffering and economic vs. non-economic damages.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how Pennsylvania's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed Pennsylvania attorney.