When does your deadline run?
Pick the agency, enter the date, and the tool shows every clock that applies: the 90-day notice of claim in New York, the Tort Claims Act notice in New Jersey, the pre-suit notice in Florida, the administrative claim against a federal agency, and the limitation period for the federal claim in each state. Every date carries the rule behind it. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
1. Who were the officers working for?
The agency decides which rules apply and who can be sued. If you are not sure, pick the closest and ask us.
2. What happened?
Some claims start their clock later than the incident date. The tool adds a note where that matters.
3. When did it happen?
The date of the arrest, the use of force, the search, or the event in custody. For a prosecution claim, still enter the arrest date; the tool explains the difference.
The clocks
Rules current as of . Each date is the general rule applied to the date you entered.
Pick the agency and enter the date of the incident. The dates appear here, each with the rule behind it.
This is an educational aid, not a lawyer's calculation. The true deadline can be earlier than any date shown. Nothing you enter here is stored or sent anywhere. How the tool works and what it cannot know.
The rules it applies, on their own pages
The 90-day notice of claim
What it is, what goes in it, the 50-h examination, and what a court can do when it is late.
Read →New York
The City, other municipalities, the State Police and state prisons, and the Court of Claims.
Read →New Jersey
The Tort Claims Act notice, the six-month wait, the two-year limit, and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act.
Read →Florida
The pre-suit notice to the agency and the Department of Financial Services, the damages cap, and the four-year federal period.
Read →Federal officers
Why Section 1983 does not reach ICE or CBP, the Federal Tort Claims Act route, and what is left of Bivens.
Read →The criminal case
Why a malicious prosecution claim waits for the criminal case to end, and what a plea or an ACD does to the civil case.
Read →
The tool counts. A lawyer decides.
The rules above are the general ones. Which agency actually employed the officers, whether a claim accrued later than the incident, whether a tolling rule applies to you, and whether the notice went to the right office are the questions that decide a real deadline. Tell us the date and we will do the rest.
Request a free case reviewCommon questions
Is the date the tool shows my real deadline?
It is the general rule applied to one date. The true deadline in your case can be earlier: a claim against a public authority or a county can have its own rule, a claim by a minor or a person in custody can run differently, and a claim against the wrong agency protects nothing. Treat the tool's date as the latest possible day, not the day to act, and have a lawyer calculate it.
Why are there two different clocks for the same arrest?
Because a police abuse case usually carries two kinds of claim. The federal claim under Section 1983 borrows the state's personal injury period and needs no notice of claim. The state-law claims against the city, county or state, which add defendants and remedies, have a short notice requirement first. Losing the state claims does not lose the federal one, but it can cost leverage.
Does the tool store what I enter?
No. The page downloads the rule table with the rest of the page and works out the dates on your device. Nothing is sent to us or stored anywhere. The copy button only places a summary on your clipboard.
What if the date the tool shows has already passed?
Call a lawyer anyway. Some claims accrue later than the incident date (a malicious prosecution claim runs from the end of the criminal case, a false arrest claim from release), some deadlines can be extended by a court on a proper showing, and the federal claim usually has years left when the state notice period has run.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.