Legal Definitions - Statute of limitations

The Statute of limitations is a law that sets a maximum time period during which legal proceedings, either civil lawsuits or criminal prosecutions, can be initiated after an event has occurred. Once this time limit expires, the legal claim or prosecution is generally barred, meaning a court will refuse to hear the case, regardless of its merits.

The specific duration of a statute of limitations varies significantly depending on:

• The type of legal claim (e.g., personal injury, breach of contract, fraud, specific criminal offenses).
• The jurisdiction (e.g., different states or countries have different time limits for the same type of claim).

The "clock" for the statute of limitations typically begins to run from the date the injury or wrong occurred, or from the date it was discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered.

Here are some examples illustrating how statutes of limitations work:

• Personal Injury Claim: Imagine a pedestrian, Maria, is hit by a car driven by David, sustaining injuries. The state where the accident occurred has a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims. This means Maria must file a lawsuit against David within two years from the date of the accident. If she waits until two years and one day, David's lawyer can ask the court to dismiss her case because the statute of limitations has expired, and the court will likely grant that request, preventing Maria from seeking compensation for her injuries.

• Breach of Contract: A small business, "Tech Solutions Inc.," signs a contract with a client, "Innovate Corp.," to develop a new software application. Tech Solutions Inc. completes the work, but Innovate Corp. fails to make the final payment as agreed in the contract. The state's statute of limitations for breach of contract claims is typically four or six years. If Tech Solutions Inc. waits longer than this period from the date the payment was due to file a lawsuit against Innovate Corp. to recover the money, their claim will be time-barred, and they will lose their legal right to collect the debt through the courts.

• Minor Criminal Offense: Suppose a person, Alex, commits a misdemeanor offense, such as petty theft, by shoplifting from a local store. Many jurisdictions have a statute of limitations for prosecuting less serious crimes, perhaps three years for misdemeanor theft. If law enforcement identifies Alex as the perpetrator but does not file criminal charges against him within that three-year window from the date of the theft, they may be legally prevented from prosecuting him for that specific offense, even if they have clear evidence of his guilt. (Note that very serious crimes, like murder, often do not have a statute of limitations.)