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# Statute of limitations

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A statute of limitations is a law setting forth the maximum period of time after certain events that legal proceedings based on those events may be begun. For example, a state might have a statute limiting prosecution for misdemeanors to two years. In such a state, if a person is discovered to have committed a misdemeanor three years ago, he cannot now be prosecuted for it.

A crime (in the case of a criminal prosecution) or a cause of action (in a civil suit) is said to have accrued when the event beginning its time limitation occurs. Sometimes this is the event itself that is the subject of the suit or prosecution (such as a crime or personal injury), but it may also be an event such as the discovery of a condition one wishes to redress, such as discovering a defect in a manufactured good.

The reason for there being statutes of limitations is to prevent a person being forced to answer criminal or civil complaints an unreasonably long time after he might have expected them to have been forgotten. Traditional notions of justice hold it to be unjust for a person to have to look over his shoulder and make allowances for events which are too long past. They also serve to reduce court costs and case loads.

In all fifty states of the Unites States of America, there is no statute of limitations on the crime of murder. In other words, a prosecution for murder may commence at any time, no matter how long ago the murder occurred. Different states enforce different statutes of limitations for different matters. For most felonies other than murder, the statute may be seven years. Statutes of limitations for misdemeanors in most states are one, two or three years.

Different states do not put forth these limitations in any uniform manner. Some states will have a law or laws specifically named "Limitation of actions" or similar, under which the limitations for several, but not all actions, will be listed. Exceptions to the overall law will be peppered throughout the body of state law. Other states may have no such single law, but will mention the subject of limitation as a sub-category of each law to which a limitation is applied.

For civil actions, statutes of limitations usually range between one and ten years. In California, for example, the statute of limitations for most personal injury actions (including those resulting from car accidents) is one year from the date of the accident. In Nevada it is two years, and in New Mexico, three. If you miss the statute of limitations deadline, you cannot sue the responsible party. A common statute of limitations for matters arising out of a contractural agreement is seven years. One should consult the statutes of various states to find the specific limitations periods for various causes of action in specific states.

Most jurisdictions provide that limitations are tolled under certain circumstances. Tolling will prevent the time for filing suit from running while the condition exists. Examples of such circumstances are if the aggreived party (plaintiff) is a minor, or the defendant has filed a bankruptcy proceeding. In those instances, in most jurisdictions, the running of limitations is tolled until the circumstance (i.e. the injured party reaches majority in the former or the bankruptcy proceeding is concluded in the later) no longer exists.

A special case of the statute of limitations is a statute of repose. This applies to buildings and properties, and limits the time during which an action may lie based upon defects or hazards connected to the construction of the building or premises. An example of this would be that if a person is electrocuted by a wiring defect incorporated into a structure in, say, 1990, a state law may allow him or his heirs to sue only before 1997 in the case of an open (patent) defect, or before 2000 in the case of a hidden defect.

There may be a number of factors which will affect the toll?ing of a statute of limitations. In many cases, the discovery of the harm (as in a medical malpractice claim where the fact or the impact of the doctor's mistake is not immediately apparent) starts the statute running. In some jurisdictions the action is said to have not accrued until the harm is discovered, while in others the action accrues when the malpractice occurs, but an action to redress the harm is tolled until the injured party discovers the harm. An action to redress a tort committed against a minor is generally tolled in most cases until the child reaches the age of majority. A ten-year-old who is injured in a car accident might therefore be able to bring suit one, two or three years after he turns eighteen.

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Last edited June 12, 2001 1:49 pm (diff)
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