Statute of Limitations

28 USC 1367(d) provides that the statute of limitations on any claim within a federal court's supplemental jurisdiction (and any other claim that is voluntarily dismissed at the same time) is tolled for 30 days after the supplemental jurisdiction claim is dismissed.  This decision holds that the 30 day tolling provision applies only when the supplemental jurisdiction claim is involuntarily… Read More

A civil suit for child pornography under 18 USC 2255 is governed by a 10 year statute of limitations.  However, the limitations period runs from each republication of the pornography since republication can cause a new personal injury.  Here, the complaint alleged a republication of the record album containing a nude picture of plaintiff's naked body in a swimming pool. … Read More

Over a dissent, this decision holds that MICRA's one-year limitations period (CCP 340.5) applies to a claim by a driver of a car injured by an EMT's negligent driving in delivering a patient to a hospital.  Delivering a patient to a hospital is a medical service which can be a matter of life and death to the patient.  The fact… Read More

Agreeing with Connelly v. Bornstein (2019) 33 Cal.App.5th 783 and Garcia v. Rosenberg (2019) 42 Cal.App.5th 1050, this decision holds that CCP 340.6's one-year limitations periods governs a malicious prosecution action against the attorney for the opposing party in the underlying litigation.  CCP 340.6(a)(2) tolls that one-year period during the time “[t]he attorney continues to represent the plaintiff regarding the… Read More

This decision affirms dismissal of a case under the 5 year statute.  It holds that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in not tolling the 5 year statute during the 16 month period in which the court was not holding jury trials due to COVID-19 because during that period plaintiff was not ready to go to trial anyway,… Read More

The Judicial Council had constitutional authority to adopt Emergency Rule 9 extending statutes of limitation by six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Governor Newson's executive order granting the Judicial Council authority to adopt that rule was itself authorized by Gov. Code 8571. Read More

Here, a lender sued on a HELOC loan which provided for monthly payments, gave the lender the discretion to accelerate the loan on default, and provided for any remaining balance to fall due on a specified date.  This decision holds that the HELOC called for separate, divisible performances by the borrower--namely, the monthly payments.  So that the lender could sue… Read More

A 2022 amendment to CCP 340.16(b)(3) revives until 2026 claims for damage resulting from sexual assault that occurred after 2008.  This decision holds that the amendment revives any claim for damages arising from a sexual assault, without regard to the legal theory of the claim, and is not limited to tort claims for sexual assault or battery.  However, it questions… Read More

If the judgment that is being enforced is an amended judgment, the 10-year time limit on its enforceability runs from entry of the amended judgment, not the original judgment. Read More

Defendant disability insurer wrote plaintiff insured in 2015 that it had determined his disability arose from illness rather than accident and so would stop paying benefits in 2018 when he turned 65 as the policy allowed for illness-caused disability.  Plaintiff sued for breach of contract and breach of implied covenant in 2019, more than four years after the 2015 letter,… Read More

28 USC 1367(d) provides that when a case is brought within the federal courts' original jurisdiction and state law claims are also asserted, invoking the federal court's supplemental jurisdiction, any applicable statute of limitations is tolled for a period of 30 days following dismissal of the state law claims if the federal court declines to exercise jurisdiction over them.  This… Read More

Calling contrary language in SI 59 LLC v. Variel Warner Ventures LLC (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 146 dicta, this decision holds that despite Civ. Code 1668, a release may be enforceable while the claim still has not accrued for statute of limitations purposes, at least so long as the plaintiff is aware of the claim she releases and the wrongful acts… Read More

Following Merck & Co., Inc. v. Reynolds (2010) 130 S.Ct. 1784, this decision holds that the statute of limitations does not begin to run on a securities claim under 28 USC 1658 until the plaintiff can plead each of its elements with sufficient detail and particularity to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.  Defendants’ allegedly… Read More

This case denies American Pipe tolling of the statute of limitations on claims for statutory penalties under the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (Civ. Code 1786.50).  The act clearly states that statutory penalties cannot be recovered in a class action, so that affected consumers could not reasonably rely on the pendency of a prior class action to protect their right… Read More

Most time deadline statutes and rules are now construed as non-jurisdictional unless Congress has clearly stated otherwise.  The 12-year statute of limitations on quiet title actions against the United States (28 U.S.C. §2409a(g)) is a claims processing rule, not a jurisdictional statute.  The time limit appears in a section separate from the Quiet Title Act's jurisdictional provision and does not… Read More

A 2018 amendment to CCP 340.1 further relaxed the statute of limitations on childhood sexual assault claims, but it removed the words "on the merits" from the portion of the statute that used to state that it did not apply to any claim that had been litigated to finality on the merits before 2003.  The deletion of that language was… Read More

Statute of limitations on claim that defendant tortiously injured plaintiff's land by dumping uncertified fill on the property ran from the discovery of the claim by prior owners of the property.  The limitations period does not re-start with a transfer of the property to a new owner after the first owner has discovered the injury. Read More

This decision holds that the trial court erred in granting one defendant summary judgment based on a statute of limitations defense.  The argument and evidence on summary judgment addressed when plaintiff discovered the contracts signed by an independent contractor were void under This decision holds that the trial court erred in granting one defendant summary judgment based on a statute… Read More

Normally, private suits under the Political Reform Act (Gov. Code 81000 et seq.) are governed by a four year limitations period.  However, this case holds that when the Reform Act is used to challenge land use decisions, the more specific 90-day limitations provision of Gov. Code 65009 and 66499.37 apply instead. Read More

Under CCP 340.1(b), a plaintiff may obtain treble damages against a person whose cover up is found to be the cause of a sexual assault on a child through a concerted effort to hide evidence relating to childhood sexual assault.  This decision holds that the treble damage provision does not apply retroactively.  The statute espressly makes the lengthened statute of… Read More