One of the most important pieces of information to anyone making a claim in court is the “statute of limitations” that applies to their particular claim. The statute of limitations period is the time during which a claim can be made in court and is imposed by law to avoid litigation of claims long after the acts in question occurred, when memories have faded and records have been destroyed or discarded. The importance of the statute of limitations cannot be understated because, as a general matter, if a party is too late in bringing its claim in court, it loses the right to make that claim forever.
While the concept sounds simple enough, it is not. There are many different statutes of limitation periods, depending on the type of claim involved and, sometimes, the person or entity against whom it is being made. For example, most contract claims have a six year statute of limitations, while claims based on negligence generally have a three year statute of limitations. In the construction industry, it gets even more complex because, if either type of claim is against certain public agencies, different statutes of limitation may apply. Further complicating the issue, different statutes of limitations begin to “run,” meaning that the clock starts ticking on the time to make a claim, at different times. The date that the statute of limitations begins to run is also determined by the facts of the case and the type of claim involved.