The general rule: two years, capped at three
Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584, a claim for injury to the person caused by negligence, or by malpractice of a healthcare provider, must generally be filed within two years from when the injury was first sustained, discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered. What's genuinely distinctive is that this same statute builds in a hard outer limit: regardless of when the injury is actually discovered, the suit can never be brought more than three years from the date of the underlying act or omission. Both the discovery window and the absolute cap live in a single sentence of Connecticut law.
Intentional injuries: a different, longer statute
This is the detail that reverses what many people expect from other states. An injury caused by someone's intentional misconduct doesn't fall under the two-year negligence rule at all — it's governed by a separate statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-577, which sets a three-year deadline. In Connecticut, an intentionally inflicted injury actually gets a longer filing window than an ordinary negligence claim, the opposite of the pattern seen in some other states.
Wrongful death: two years, capped at five
A wrongful death claim must generally be filed within two years of the date of death, under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-555. If the death didn't occur immediately after the injury, the same statute sets an absolute outer limit: the suit can never be brought more than five years from the date of the act that ultimately caused the death.
Suing the state itself: a genuinely different process
Claims against the State of Connecticut don't go straight to court. Because of sovereign immunity, a claim for money damages against the state must first be presented to the Office of the Claims Commissioner, an appointed official with real adjudicatory power — generally within one year of the incident, under General Statutes § 4-148. See our full guide to Connecticut's Claims Commissioner process for exactly how this genuinely distinctive system works.