What Happens if I Miss the Two Year Deadline After a Car Accident in Ontario?
In Ontario, you generally have two years from the date of a car accident to start a lawsuit. If that deadline has passed, do not assume your claim is gone. The two year rule has real exceptions, and whether one applies to you depends on facts only a careful review can establish. Here is how the deadline works and what to do if you think you missed it.
The basic two year rule
The Limitations Act, 2002 sets the general rule: a lawsuit must be started within two years of the day the claim was discovered. For most car accidents, that means two years from the day of the crash. Start the lawsuit means filing a statement of claim with the court, not calling a lawyer or notifying an insurance company. Those steps matter, but none of them stops the clock.
Discoverability: the clock does not always start on the accident date
The two years run from the day you knew, or reasonably ought to have known, four things: that you were injured, that the injury was caused by or contributed to by an act or omission, whose act or omission it was, and that a lawsuit would be an appropriate way to seek a remedy.
For most crashes, all of that is known the same day. But not always. Some injuries reveal their seriousness slowly. Sometimes the identity of the other driver takes time to establish, for example after a hit and run. Where discovery genuinely came later, the deadline can be later too. This is a fact-specific argument, and the court will expect you to have acted with reasonable diligence.
Exceptions that pause the clock
- Children. The limitation clock generally does not run while the injured person is under 18. A child hurt in a crash usually has until their 20th birthday to start a claim, and often the claim is brought earlier by a litigation guardian.
- Incapacity. The clock generally does not run during periods when the injured person is incapable of starting a claim because of their physical, mental, or psychological condition. Serious injuries from the crash itself can raise this issue.
Both exceptions have their own proof requirements. They are not automatic, and the other side will test them.
Accident benefits have their own, much shorter deadlines
A lawsuit against another driver is only one part of an Ontario car accident claim. Your own insurer pays statutory accident benefits regardless of who caused the crash, and those benefits run on separate deadlines: you are expected to tell your insurer about the accident within days and to return the application forms within weeks of receiving them. Missing accident benefit deadlines can sometimes be fixed with a reasonable explanation, but late applications invite disputes. If the crash was recent, deal with accident benefits now, whatever the status of the two year deadline.
What to do if you think you missed the deadline
- Do not decide on your own that the claim is dead. Whether the deadline actually expired depends on discoverability and the exceptions above.
- Write down a timeline: the accident date, when your injuries became clear, what you knew about the other driver and when, and any periods you were unable to manage your affairs.
- Gather what you have: medical records, the police report, insurance correspondence, photos.
- Get legal advice immediately. If a viable argument exists, every additional week of delay weakens it.
The bottom line
Two years from the crash is the general rule for suing after an Ontario car accident. The clock can start later where the claim was not reasonably discoverable, and it pauses for children and for people incapable of managing a claim. These exceptions are real but narrow, so treat the two year mark as firm, and if it has already passed, get advice before giving up.
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Claim.ca is a free platform operated by Marty Mikhail, a lawyer licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. Legal services are provided by Lemonade Law™, Marty Mikhail's personal legal practice.