Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania the federal claim under Section 1983 has two years and needs no notice. A state-law claim against a government unit needs written notice within six months of the injury, and suit within two years. A request for police audio or video is due within 60 days of the recording. State law immunizes local agencies from most police misconduct claims and caps the rest, so the federal claim carries most Pennsylvania cases. This page goes through each clock, the notice and its excuses, the caps, the immunity and the federal districts.
Pennsylvania has the shortest evidence clock and the narrowest state-law remedy of the four states this site covers. The recordings request is due in 60 days. The notice of a state-law claim is due in six months. Both the federal and the state claims must be filed within two years. Alexander Susi is admitted in Pennsylvania, and the state's three federal districts sit in the Third Circuit with New Jersey.
The federal claim: two years
Section 1983 has no limitation period of its own. It borrows the state's personal injury period (Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989)), and in Pennsylvania that is the two-year period of 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, which covers assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and personal injury or death (§ 5524(1), (2), (7)). The Third Circuit applied it in Kach v. Hose, 589 F.3d 626 (3d Cir. 2009), and held that accrual is a federal question: the claim accrues when the plaintiff knew or should have known of the injury.
The federal accrual rules for particular claims apply in Pennsylvania as everywhere. A false arrest claim accrues when the person is held under legal process, at arraignment or the like (Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007)). A fabricated-evidence claim accrues when the criminal case ends in the person's favor (McDonough v. Smith, 588 U.S. 109 (2019)), and for a malicious prosecution claim that means the prosecution ended without a conviction (Thompson v. Clark, 596 U.S. 36 (2022)). A force claim accrues at the incident. Two years is a year shorter than New York and two shorter than Florida, and it does not wait for the criminal case unless the claim is one that depends on how that case ends.
The state notice does not bind the federal claim
State notice-of-claim statutes do not apply to Section 1983 claims (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)). We have not read a Pennsylvania decision applying Felder to § 5522, so we cite the Supreme Court's rule and nothing narrower. A person who missed the six months has not lost the federal claim. We give the notice anyway, within the six months, for the reason we serve a notice of claim in New York: it costs little, and it protects whatever state-law claim the facts support.
The six-month notice: 42 Pa.C.S. § 5522(a)
A person about to bring a state-law action against a government unit must give written notice within six months of the injury. The notice goes to the government unit, and where the defendant is a Commonwealth agency, to the Attorney General as well. It states:
- the claimant;
- the person injured;
- the date and hour of the incident;
- the location;
- the attending physician.
Failure to give the notice bars the action. The statute then softens that in two ways. The court "shall excuse" noncompliance on a showing of a reasonable excuse. And the failure is not a bar if the government unit had actual or constructive notice of the incident. Whether a department's own records of an arrest amount to that kind of notice is an argument to make after the fact, not a plan. The plan is to send the notice.
The Pennsylvania numbers
60 days from the recording to request police audio or video (Act 22 of 2017). Six months from the injury for written notice to the government unit, and to the Attorney General for a Commonwealth agency (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522(a)). Two years to sue, on the federal claim and on the state torts (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524). The true deadline in a particular case may be earlier.
The 60-day recordings request
Police recordings in Pennsylvania have their own statute, Act 22 of 2017 (42 Pa.C.S. ch. 67A). The request must be in writing and made within 60 days of the date of the recording. It goes by personal delivery or certified mail to the agency's open records officer, and it must identify the incident, the date, time and location, and the requester's relationship to the incident. The agency has 30 days to respond. A denial is appealed to the Court of Common Pleas within 30 days, and the petition carries a $125 filing fee. Sixty days is the shortest clock on this site. Once a lawsuit is filed the recording can be demanded in discovery, but a request on day one is how you learn what exists. The evidence and body cameras page covers preservation.
One more records statute helps in a Pennsylvania case. Act 57 of 2020 created a statewide database of officer separation records, used in hiring, operational since July 14, 2021 and run by the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission. Act 59 of 2020 covers mental health evaluations of officers after deadly force.
Immunity, and what is left of the state claim
The notice protects a state-law claim that is narrow to begin with. "No local agency shall be liable for any damages" except as the statute provides (42 Pa.C.S. § 8541), and the nine exceptions in § 8542(b) all require negligent acts: vehicles; personal property; real property; trees, traffic controls and street lighting; utilities; streets; sidewalks; animals; and sexual abuse, added in 2019. Intentional police misconduct is in none of them. The individual officer loses official immunity, the right to indemnification and the damages limit where a court determines the act was a crime, actual fraud, actual malice or willful misconduct (§ 8550). There is no damages action under the Pennsylvania Constitution for excessive force, as of our last check (Jones v. City of Philadelphia, 890 A.2d 1188 (Pa. Commw. 2006) (en banc)), and we know of no Pennsylvania statute analogous to Section 1983.
The caps
Where a local agency is liable, damages are limited to $500,000 in the aggregate per occurrence, with pain and suffering recoverable only for death or for permanent loss of a bodily function, permanent disfigurement or permanent dismemberment where medical expenses exceed $1,500 (42 Pa.C.S. § 8553). For Commonwealth agencies the limit is $250,000 per plaintiff and $1,000,000 in the aggregate (§ 8528). Neither cap applies to the sexual abuse exceptions. Those figures are statutory caps and a statutory threshold on state-law claims. They are not settlements, and they do not limit the federal claim. The Pennsylvania recovery page explains what that means for a case.
| Claim or step | Pre-suit step | Due | Ceiling | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Request for police audio or video | Written request to the open records officer, in person or by certified mail | 60 days from the recording; appeal of a denial within 30 days | Not applicable | Act 22 of 2017, 42 Pa.C.S. ch. 67A |
| Section 1983, against the officers and (through Monell) the municipality | None (Felder v. Casey) | 2 years from accrual | None by statute; punitive damages against the officer only | 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524; Kach v. Hose (3d Cir. 2009); City of Newport |
| State tort claim against a local agency | Written notice within 6 months | 2 years | Immune except nine negligence categories; statutory cap of $500,000 per occurrence | 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5522(a), 5524, 8541, 8542, 8553 |
| State tort claim against a Commonwealth agency | Written notice within 6 months, also to the Attorney General | 2 years | Statutory caps of $250,000 per plaintiff, $1,000,000 in the aggregate | 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5522(a), 8522(b), 8528 |
| State tort claim against the officer personally | Same notice | 2 years | Official immunity and the cap are lost on a judicial finding of crime, fraud, malice or willful misconduct; so is indemnification | 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 8548, 8550 |
The dollar figures in this table are statutory caps on state-law damages against the government under 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 8528 and 8553. They are not settlements, results or estimates.
The three federal districts
Because the federal claim carries most Pennsylvania cases, the federal districts matter. There are three (28 U.S.C. § 118): the Eastern District, sitting in Philadelphia, Allentown, Easton, Lancaster and Reading; the Middle District, in Harrisburg, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport and Lewisburg; and the Western District, in Pittsburgh, Erie and Johnstown. Appeals from all three go to the Third Circuit.
Alexander Susi is admitted in Pennsylvania. The first conversation is the same as in Brooklyn: the date, the agency, the kind of incident, and whether a criminal charge is open. If a criminal charge is pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone; the criminal case and civil case page explains why, and the first week page has the list of what to preserve now.
Every deadline
New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania and the federal agencies, by agency and by claim.
Deadlines →Recovery in Pennsylvania
Why the federal claim carries the case, who pays, and public Pennsylvania settlements.
Pennsylvania recovery →New Jersey
The other Third Circuit state: two years, the Tort Claims Act notice and the Civil Rights Act.
New Jersey →Common questions
How long do I have to sue the police in Pennsylvania?
Two years. A Section 1983 claim arising in Pennsylvania borrows the two-year period of 42 Pa.C.S. 5524, and federal law decides when it starts: when the plaintiff knew or should have known of the injury, under Kach v. Hose. The state torts of assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and abuse of process have the same two years.
What is the six-month notice?
Under 42 Pa.C.S. 5522(a), a person with a claim against a government unit must give written notice within six months of the injury, to the unit and, for a Commonwealth agency, to the Attorney General. It states the claimant, the person injured, the date and hour, the location and the attending physician. Failure bars the state-law action, unless the court excuses it for a reasonable excuse or the unit had actual or constructive notice.
Does the six-month notice apply to my federal claim?
No. Felder v. Casey holds that state notice-of-claim rules do not apply to Section 1983 claims. We have not read a Pennsylvania-specific decision applying Felder, so we cite the Supreme Court's rule itself. We give the notice anyway, because it costs little and protects the state-law claims.
How do I get body camera footage in Pennsylvania?
Under Act 22 of 2017, by a written request made within 60 days of the recording, delivered in person or by certified mail to the agency's open records officer, identifying the incident, the date, time and location, and your relationship to it. The agency has 30 days to respond. A denial can be appealed to the Court of Common Pleas within 30 days, with a $125 filing fee.
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.