Statute of Limitations for Product Liability in Michigan

6 min read

Published April 8, 2026 • By DocketMath Team

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change frequently — verify all citations with current official sources.

Overview

Run this scenario in DocketMath using the Statute Of Limitations calculator.

In Michigan, product liability plaintiffs generally have 6 years to file a product liability lawsuit under MCL § 767.24(1). This is the general/default statute of limitations for product liability actions, and—unless your specific facts trigger a different timing rule—your deadline typically starts running from the event the statute ties to commencement.

DocketMath’s Statute of Limitations Calculator helps you convert a key date into a practical “last day to sue” estimate. Because statute-of-limitations timing can depend on the precise facts (and sometimes more than one date is relevant), treat the calculator as a planning tool, not as a substitute for a case-specific legal review.

Note: DocketMath uses Michigan’s general product liability SOL for this workflow. If your claim facts raise a special timing issue, other doctrines or fact-based interpretations may affect the real deadline.

Limitation period

Michigan’s general product liability limitation period is 6 years. The governing provision is MCL § 767.24(1), which supplies the baseline default timeframe for filing.

What the “6 years” usually means for deadlines

Practically, the 6-year SOL affects your filing deadline like this (subject to how your specific calendar date is counted):

If your relevant triggering date is January 15, 2020, the default deadline would fall around January 15, 2026.
If your relevant triggering date is July 4, 2021, the default deadline would fall around July 4, 2027.

DocketMath is built to show the estimated last filing date based on the start date you enter, so you can plan around the timeline.

Inputs that typically matter for SOL calculations

Even when the statute provides a straightforward period, SOL calculators still require you to provide the date that starts the clock. Common inputs include:

Date of injury (often when harm first becomes identifiable)
Date of product-related event (for example, exposure, malfunction, or incident)
Date suit could reasonably be filed (depending on how the statute applies to your facts)

If you enter only one date, DocketMath will treat it as the primary trigger for the 6-year calculation. If you enter multiple dates, the tool will anchor the calculation to the trigger you specify.

Check your “date choice” before relying on an output

Because the start date drives the last-day estimate, choosing the wrong date is one of the most common ways SOL calculators produce a deadline that doesn’t match the real case timeline.

For example:

Trigger date you enter	Default SOL length	Estimated deadline (6 years later)
2020-01-15	6 years	~2026-01-15
2021-07-04	6 years	~2027-07-04
2022-03-01	6 years	~2028-03-01

Pitfall: If you enter a “notice” date (for example, when you noticed symptoms) that is different from the statutory trigger date that your claim theory uses, your estimated deadline may drift by months or more.

Key exceptions

Michigan’s general/default rule is 6 years under MCL § 767.24(1), and no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found in this reference-page workflow. That means this page is designed to present the baseline timing period, not every fact-driven variation.

However, timing can still become complicated because of general SOL concepts that can affect when the clock effectively starts or how it applies to particular fact patterns. For example:

When the clock starts: Courts may interpret timing using the particular triggering event tied to product injury timing.
Discovery-related timing concepts: Some civil timing doctrines can affect whether a claim is treated as timely depending on the theories pleaded and the underlying facts.

Because this page focuses on the statute-of-limitations period itself (not every procedural/equitable doctrine), DocketMath will typically return the baseline 6-year window using the trigger date(s) you enter.

Warning: Even with a single “6 years” statute, real outcomes can depend on how the facts map to the timing framework. If you have uncertainty about when the relevant trigger occurred or was discovered, use the calculator as an initial estimate and verify how the statute applies to your specific facts.

Practical “exception” checklist

Use this checklist to decide whether you should double-check your timing inputs before filing:

Statute citation

Michigan’s general product liability statute of limitations is:

MCL § 767.24(1) — 6-year general limitation period for product liability actions.

This reference page uses that statute as the governing general/default period because no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found here. In other words: unless your fact pattern or the pleading/timing framework changes which timing rule applies, start from 6 years under MCL § 767.24(1).

Use the calculator

You can calculate your estimated deadline using DocketMath’s Statute of Limitations Calculator:

/tools/statute-of-limitations

To run the calculation:

Open the calculator at /tools/statute-of-limitations.
Select Michigan (US-MI).
Enter the start date you believe triggers the statute (often the date of injury or the statutory start event).
Review the calculated end date based on the 6-year rule in MCL § 767.24(1).
If multiple dates could plausibly serve as the trigger, run the tool more than once to see how sensitive the deadline is to each candidate start date.

How output changes when you change inputs

Moving your start date forward by 30 days typically moves the “last day to sue” forward by about 30 days, because the period is measured from the trigger date.
Switching from an earlier trigger date to a later one (for example, an earlier diagnosis date vs. a later product-related event date) can shift the deadline by months to years, depending on the gap between dates.

Note: This calculator estimate is based on the general 6-year rule. It may not account for every possible fact-driven timing issue that could arise in litigation.

Sources and references

Start with the primary authority for Michigan and confirm the effective date before relying on any output. If the rule has been amended, update the inputs and rerun the calculation.

MCL § 600.5807