After a grain truck clips you on US-1 near Cash Corner in South Portland, the blunt answer is: no, that advice can cost you money. Maine's general deadline for many injury lawsuits is 6 years under 14 M.R.S. § 752, but waiting is still dangerous because other deadlines hit much sooner. If a city, school, state agency, or transit vehicle is involved, the Maine Tort Claims Act usually requires written notice within 180 days. If it happened on the job, you generally must notify your employer within 30 days for workers' comp. And the longer you wait, the easier it gets for insurers to say your injuries came from something else.

That 6-year rule is only the outside deadline for filing many civil injury cases.

It does not mean "nothing needs to be done for six years."

In South Portland cases, early records matter fast: crash reports, 911 logs, airport incident reports, store surveillance, and witness names can disappear long before six years pass. If you fell at the Portland International Jetport or were hit by farm equipment traffic coming through coastal routes during harvest season, video may be overwritten in days or weeks.

Insurance adjusters use delay against people, especially when paperwork is in English and the injured person is struggling to follow it. They may argue:

• you were not hurt badly,
• you "waited because it wasn't serious,"
• or your kidney damage, back pain, or dog-bite complications came later from another cause.

If a government vehicle, road crew, or public property is involved, don't assume the regular deadline applies. In Maine, 180 days can matter more than 6 years.

Also, medical treatment should start early. Gaps in care are one of the cheapest ways insurers cut value from a claim, whether the crash happened on busy US-1 summer traffic or on remote Route 201 after a moose-related collision.