Injured because of someone's carelessness: claiming compensation
Limitation of Actions Act; Law Reform Act; Insurance Act · sources read 5 Oct 2026
If someone's negligence injured you, you can sue them in court for damages, but the case must be filed within 3 years. If you were partly to blame, you can still claim, though the court reduces the damages by your share of the blame.
- Deadline
- 3 years from the date of the injury to file the case.
- Deadline
- Road accidents: the insurer must have notice before, or within 30 days after, the case starts.
- Where
- The courts (file online at efiling.court.go.ke or at the court registry); the driver's insurer for road accidents; NLAS for free legal aid
Steps
- File a claim for damages in court against the person who caused the injury, within 3 years of the date it happened.
- Cases can be filed online on the Judiciary e-filing platform (efiling.court.go.ke) after you register an account.
- For a road accident, make sure the driver's insurer gets notice of the case before it is filed or within 30 days after. Without that notice, the insurer does not have to pay the judgment.
- If you can't afford a lawyer, apply for free legal aid from the National Legal Aid Service (NLAS), online or at any NLAS office.
Watch out
- Being partly to blame does not end your claim, but the court cuts the damages to what it thinks is fair for your share of the blame.
- After 3 years, a personal injury case can go ahead only with the court's permission, where key facts were outside your knowledge until later.
- In road accidents, the insurer must still pay the judgment even if it says it can cancel or has cancelled the driver's policy.
- If a contract (for example a ticket, waiver or service terms) or a law limits liability, your damages cannot go above that limit, and a defence the other side has under the contract still applies.
Who this covers
- Anyone who suffered injury or damage from another person's wrong (a tort, such as negligence) can bring a claim.
- This includes people who were partly at fault themselves.
- In road accidents, people injured by an insured vehicle can have the driver's insurer pay the court judgment.
Official sources (5)
- Limitation of Actions Act, No. 21 of 1968 (Cap. 22) new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026
- Law Reform Act (Cap. 26) new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026
- Insurance (Motor Vehicles Third Party Risks) Act, No. 12 of 1945 (Cap. 405) new.kenyalaw.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- Judiciary e-Filing FAQs judiciary.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026
- Legal Aid nlas.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026