The general rule: six years, not two
Here's a genuinely common point of confusion worth clearing up directly. Under Minn. Stat. § 541.05, a negligence-based personal injury claim — a car accident, a slip and fall, most ordinary accident claims — must be filed within six years from the date of injury. A surprising number of online resources and even some legal charts mistakenly cite a two-year deadline, pulling that figure from a different statute, § 541.07, which actually governs intentional torts like assault and defamation, not negligence.
Property damage shares the same six-year window
The same § 541.05 that governs negligence-based personal injury also covers negligence-based property damage claims, giving both the same six-year deadline.
Intentional acts: the genuinely shorter two-year rule
Claims based on an intentional tort — assault, battery as an intentional act, defamation — do carry the shorter two-year deadline under § 541.07. The distinction between negligence and an intentional act is exactly what determines which of these two very different deadlines actually applies.
Medical malpractice and wrongful death: their own separate rules
Medical malpractice claims generally carry a four-year deadline under § 541.076. Wrongful death claims carry a separate three-year deadline, measured from the date of death rather than the date of the underlying injury.
Government claims: notice runs from discovery, not just occurrence
Suing a Minnesota municipality comes with its own notice requirement, and it has a genuinely distinctive starting point. See our full guide to Minnesota's municipal notice requirement.