Pennsylvania Statute of Limitations for Defective Products

Created by FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors | Last reviewed June 20, 2016

Torts are civil wrongs that cause property damage or personal injury to another person. A tort can be intentional or it can be a result of negligence. When a tort occurs, the injured party has the option to file a civil lawsuit against the wrongdoer. Civil lawsuits have statutes of limitations, which are time limits in which the lawsuit must be filed. Statutes of limitations are meant to ensure reliability and general fairness in a case. Each state has its own statutes of limitations.

Pennsylvania has different statutes of limitations for civil cases depending on the cause of action, including cases involving injuries caused by defective products. Read on to learn more about the Keystone State's time limits on product liability claims.

Pennsylvania Time Limits on Product Liability Cases

The following table is a quick summary of Pennsylvania's statute of limitations for defective products.

Code Section	Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes: Title 42 § 5524, Two Year Limitation
Product Liability Action	If a person is injured by a defective product, he or she can sue the manufacturer or seller of that product. A product is considered defective if it is unreasonably dangerous when used in the way in which it was intended to be used. A product can be unreasonably dangerous because of a manufacturing defect, design defect, or marketing defect (such as a failure to warn or insufficient instructions).
Statute of Limitations	The statute of limitations to file a lawsuit for injury from a defective product is 2 years.
When the Clock Starts	The clock for the statute of limitations normally starts at the time that the injury from the defective product occurs. However, Pennsylvania also has the discovery rule, which arises when an injured party doesn't immediately discover the injury. In this case, the clock begins to run when the injured party discovers (or should have discovered) that the defective product caused the injury.