In Nevada, you generally have two years to file a DUI injury claim — and the countdown started the day of the crash, not the day the criminal case wraps up. That single distinction costs more drunk driving victims their case than anything else, because the natural instinct is to wait for the district attorney to finish before dealing with your own claim.
Waiting is exactly the mistake. Glen Howard spent years on the insurance-defense side before founding Howard Injury Law, and he’ll tell you plainly: insurance companies count on victims letting the clock run out. Here’s how the deadline actually works when a drunk driver hurt you.
How long you have to file a DUI injury claim in Nevada
A DUI injury claim is a personal injury claim, so it runs on Nevada’s standard two-year deadline under NRS 11.190 — two years from the date you were injured. There is no separate, longer “DUI statute of limitations.” Once that window closes, a Nevada court will dismiss your case no matter how obviously drunk the driver was or how serious your injuries are.
That flat “two years” sounds simple. For a drunk driving victim, it usually isn’t — because two things about your situation can change the math, and both cut against you if you don’t know about them.
Why the criminal case does not buy you more time
Nevada does pause the two-year clock in a few narrow situations: when the injured person is a child, when they’re legally incapacitated, or when the at-fault driver flees the state. A pending criminal case is not on that list.
So while the driver’s DUI case grinds through court — and that can easily take a year or more — your civil deadline keeps running the entire time. If you wait for a verdict before starting your own claim, you can watch a strong case expire on a technicality while the criminal side is still going. Your injury claim and the DUI prosecution move on completely separate tracks, and only one of them has your two-year clock attached to it. The safe assumption is simple: the criminal case gives you nothing extra, so treat your deadline as if it stands alone.
If the drunk driver was uninsured, a second clock is already running
Drunk drivers are far more likely than sober ones to be uninsured or carrying bare-minimum coverage. If that’s your situation, part of your recovery may come from your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage — and that claim runs on a different clock than the two-year deadline against the driver.
A UM/UIM claim is based on your insurance contract, not on the crash itself, so its timeline works differently. More importantly, your own policy almost always requires you to notify the company promptly after the crash — a deadline that can arrive far sooner than any court filing date. Miss that notice window and your insurer may have grounds to deny you. Don’t assume the two-year rule tells you anything about your UM/UIM deadline. Report the crash to your own insurer right away, and read more about your options when the drunk driver was uninsured or fled.
When the two-year clock actually starts
For almost every DUI crash, the clock starts on the date of the collision — the day you were hurt. Nevada does recognize a limited exception, sometimes called the discovery rule, for injuries that aren’t reasonably apparent right away, which can occasionally matter with head trauma or internal injuries that surface later. It’s the exception, not the rule, and it’s fact-specific — never something to bank on.
There’s also a key exception for children. If a minor was injured by a drunk driver, Nevada tolls the deadline under NRS 11.250, so their clock generally doesn’t start until they turn 18. Even so, a parent shouldn’t wait — filing sooner locks down evidence and witnesses while they still exist. And if a DUI crash took the life of a family member, the deadlines for a wrongful death claim after a serious or fatal DUI work differently and deserve their own review.
Why waiting hurts your case long before the deadline
A claim can lose value months before the deadline ever becomes an issue. In Las Vegas, surveillance and traffic-camera footage — common near the Strip, casinos, and busy intersections — often gets overwritten within days or weeks. Witnesses move and forget. Gaps between the crash and your medical treatment hand insurers an argument that you weren’t really hurt.
Getting your case reviewed early is not the same as filing a lawsuit. It means someone pins down your actual deadline, preserves the evidence, and secures the police report and chemical-test results before any of it slips away — the evidence that actually wins a DUI injury claim. That work protects your claim whether it settles quietly or has to go to court.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the criminal case give me more time to file my injury claim?
No. The driver’s criminal DUI case has no effect on your two-year civil deadline. Nevada pauses that clock only in specific situations — an injured minor, a legally incapacitated victim, or a defendant who leaves the state — and a pending criminal case is not one of them. Your injury claim runs on its own timeline no matter how long the prosecution takes. This trips up more DUI victims than any other deadline issue, because waiting for the criminal case feels like the responsible thing to do. It isn’t. Treat your two years as running independently, and start protecting your claim now rather than after a verdict.
How long do I have to file a claim with my own insurance after a DUI crash?
That’s a different clock than the deadline against the driver, and it’s governed by your insurance policy rather than the crash date. If you’re relying on your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage because the drunk driver had little or no insurance, your policy typically requires you to notify the company promptly — often much sooner than the court deadline for suing the driver. Waiting can give your insurer a reason to deny the claim. The exact timing depends on your policy language and the circumstances, so the safest move is to report the crash to your own insurer right away and have an attorney review your coverage before you accept anything.
When does the two-year deadline start?
In most DUI crashes, the clock starts on the date of the collision — the day you were injured. Nevada recognizes a narrow exception, the discovery rule, for injuries that couldn’t reasonably have been detected right away, which can occasionally apply to head or internal injuries that surface later. It’s fact-specific and not something to count on. If the injured person is a child, the deadline is generally paused until they turn 18, though a parent can and usually should act sooner to preserve evidence. Because the starting date controls everything, confirming it early is one of the most important things you can do.
What happens if I miss Nevada’s filing deadline?
If you file after the two-year deadline has passed, the court will almost certainly dismiss your case — and once that happens, your right to compensation is gone, regardless of how strong the claim was. There are a few narrow exceptions that can pause or extend the deadline, but they’re limited, fact-specific, and never safe to assume. The insurance company knows the date as well as you do, and delay tends to work in its favor, not yours. If your deadline is close, or you’re unsure when it even started, talk to a Las Vegas attorney immediately rather than risking a claim that can’t be revived.
Talk to a Las Vegas drunk driving accident lawyer
If you’re not sure whether your clock has already started — or whether a second one is running inside your own insurance policy — that uncertainty is the reason to make one call now. A free case review answers it. You’ll learn your real deadline, what evidence needs saving today, and what your claim may be worth, without committing to file anything.
Because Glen built his career defending insurance companies, he knows exactly how they use a ticking clock against injured people — and how to get ahead of it. Howard Injury Law handles drunk driving injury claims on contingency, so there’s no fee unless we win. Start your free consultation here and get your deadline confirmed while you still have room to act — not after. If you want the wider view of your options first, our overview of Nevada motor vehicle accident claims walks through what comes next.
