Civil procedure
Statute of Limitations
A statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit, measured from when the claim arose.
Deadlines vary by claim, from one year for some defamation claims to six years for many federal contract claims against the government. The clock usually starts when the injury occurs, but the discovery rule can delay it until the plaintiff knew or should have known about the harm.
It is an affirmative defense, so the defendant must raise it, normally in the answer or an early motion. Missing the deadline ends even a strong case, which is why tolling agreements are negotiated so often before suit.
The deadline is about filing, not resolving. A complaint filed one day before the limit is timely even if the case takes six years, which is why so many lawsuits appear on a docket almost exactly at the anniversary of the injury.
How it appears on a docket
ANSWER with affirmative defenses, first of which states that plaintiff's claims are barred in whole or in part by the applicable statute of limitations.
Related terms
- Answer — An answer is the defendant's written response to a complaint, admitting or denying each allegation and raising any defenses.
- Motion to Dismiss — A motion to dismiss asks the court to throw out some or all of a case without reaching the facts, usually because the complaint is legally defective.
More on civil procedure
See this term in a real case
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