Also known as: actiones limitationem · statute of limitations · limitation of actions
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A principle establishing that every legal claim is subject to a statute of limitations barring enforcement after a prescribed period has elapsed.
Onyx O'Reilly filed a complaint against Overland Transport alleging breach of a shipping contract. After the limitations period expired, Onyx sought to amend the complaint to add a new theory arising from the same shipment. The court permitted the amendment because the governing limitations law allowed relation back to the original filing date.
Orion Orlov owed Olympia Steel for equipment delivered years earlier. The debt had become unenforceable due to the statute of limitations. Orion later wrote to Olympia acknowledging the debt and promising to pay half the amount. Olympia sued on the promise and recovered because the acknowledgment revived the obligation.
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Oskar Ocampo sued Outback Mining for breach of a mining services agreement. The court dismissed the action because the statute of limitations had run. Outback later filed a second suit on the same claim. The court held that the first dismissal did not bar the second action under claim-preclusion rules.
Odessa Okada and Owen Ortega ended their cohabitation after five years. Odessa sued Owen for breach of an oral agreement allocating property acquired during the relationship. The court held that the claim accrued on the date of termination and remained timely under the applicable contract limitations period.
Odilia Okamura retained an attorney to file a personal-injury action. The attorney missed the filing deadline, paid Odilia a sum from personal funds without disclosure, and never advised her to seek independent counsel. The court disciplined the attorney for serious misconduct beyond ordinary negligence.
Olympus Banking's outside counsel miscalculated the limitations period on a loan-enforcement claim, causing the bank to lose its remedy. The bank sued the attorney for malpractice. The court declined to impose professional discipline because the single error did not demonstrate unfitness to practice law.
Yes. A voluntary acknowledgment admitting the present existence of the antecedent indebtedness revives the obligation and makes the promise binding even though the original debt is time-barred.
An amendment relates back when the law that supplies the applicable statute of limitations itself permits relation back, provided the amendment arises from the same conduct or occurrence set out in the original pleading.
No. Jurisdictions may treat a limitations dismissal as not on the merits, so a later action on the same claim is not necessarily barred by claim preclusion.
The claim accrues on breach and may be commenced during cohabitation or after termination, subject to the ordinary statute of limitations governing contractual claims.
…solved by reference to any traditional or common-sense substance-procedure distinction: "And so the question is not whether a statute of limitations is deemed a matter of procedure' in some sense. The question is . . . does it significantly affect the result of a litigation for a federal court to disregard a law of a State that would…