A statute of limitations sets a deadline for filing legal actions in civil and criminal cases, varying by jurisdiction and offense type. Serious crimes like murder and war crimes often have no time limits, while consumer debt and negligence claims follow specific statutes.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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After a law is allegedly broken, a statute of limitations spells out how long the involved parties have to take legal action. The length of a statute of limitations can vary based on the kind of offense and where it happened. This kind of law is relevant to both criminal and civil cases. Egregious crimes, like war crimes or murder, typically do not have a statute of limitations. These time limits can be applied to civil issues like consumer debt. In such a case the debt turns into time-barred debt after the statute of limitations expires.
Key Points
While the exact duration of a statute of limitations will depend on the nature of the case, most of these time limits apply to civil issues. As an example, consider claims of medical malpractice. Depending on the state, the statute of limitations varies from 1 to 4 years. Individuals in Texas, for example, have up to two years to take legal action to pursue damages. Also, the law in Texas requires that any medical liability claim be submitted within ten years from the act or inaction that led to the dispute.
1. Criminal Offenses
Although there is typically no upper limit for bringing charges for heinous crimes like murder, statutes of limitations do apply to other criminal offenses. Certain states do not have statutes of limitations for violent crimes like kidnapping or arson, or for sex offenses involving minors. This makes it possible to pursue legal action regardless of the amount of time that has passed since the offense was committed.
The severity of a crime determines the applicable statute of limitations in certain states. As an example, nearly all sex offenses with felony levels no longer have a statute of limitations in California as of 2016.
Nevertheless, this general classification is not without its exceptions. Penal Code 261(a)(5), which addresses particular rape situations, is one example of a California statute of limitations that applies to certain felony sex offenses.
The statute of limitations for most sex offenses in California can be prolonged by one year from the date when a suspect is identified using DNA evidence.
2. International Law
The Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and Article 29 of the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute both state that there is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity, genocide, or war crimes.
The United States came into compliance with the 1949 Geneva Conventions through the War Crimes Act of 1996, which, unlike other countries, does not impose a time limit on the criminal punishment for certain war crimes.
It encompasses crimes such as torture and willful killing and ensures that those responsible face consequences under U.S. law regardless of where they occur.
The Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act is just one example of how the United States is working to increase the scope of war crimes investigations and prosecutions. The purpose of the act, which was introduced in 2022, is to broaden the authority of U.S. courts to try war criminals who are found within U.S. borders, irrespective of their nationality or the nationality of the victims.
3. Consumer Debt
Consumer debt is subject to statutes of limitations as well, since creditors have a time limit within which they can seek payment. Both the nature of the debt and the laws of the relevant state determine the applicable statute of limitations for consumer debt.
Creditors are unable to garnish your wages or place a lien on any of your personal assets after the statute of limitations has expired because they cannot sue to collect a debt that has passed its time. However, this in no way absolves the buyer of all financial responsibility. The clock on a debt that has passed its statute of limitations can be reset by making any payment towards it.
As a general rule, states have three to six years to collect on consumer debt; however, this time limit might be longer if the debt is in the form of an open-ended account, a written or verbal contract, or a promissory note.
In Florida, for instance, there is a five-year statute of limitations on debt.
Either the date of incurrence of the debt or the date of nonpayment will start the clock ticking.
4. Government Lawsuits
Additionally, there are deadlines for suing the government in court. Whenever Congress establishes a right to sue the government, it typically specifies a deadline by which such lawsuits must be submitted. With the passage of time, the ability to sue becomes increasingly difficult, if not eliminated entirely, in such cases.
5. IRS
There is a time limit within which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can investigate and resolve any problems with your taxes. Once this time frame has passed, the Internal Revenue Service will no longer be able to charge you taxes, collect additional amounts, or grant you a refund. Timeframes for tax assessment, tax collection, and taxpayer access to credits and refunds are among the variables that determine the precise length of this time limit.
The inability to sue an offender after the maximum allowed time has passed is one reason why statutes of limitations can be contentious. But those who believe in a statute of limitations say that it’s fairest to limit when people can start suing to a reasonable amount of time after the incident happened. Important evidence may disappear and witnesses’ recollections may become hazy with the passage of time. Legal actions taken in such a situation might not be equitable for everyone involved.
Borrowers gain from consumer debt statutes of limitations because they are no longer threatened with wage garnishment or asset liens, which improves their financial situation. Although they may still see a dip in their score, delinquent accounts are no longer visible on credit reports after seven years have passed.
The statute of limitations has the potential to unintentionally shield wrongdoers, which is the most glaringly important restriction. Someone may get away with a crime or wrongdoing completely if it goes unpunished until after the time limit has passed.
The statute of limitations also has the drawback of being rigid in some contexts. Time limits are not always flexible enough to accommodate the intricacies and subtleties of particular cases, and they differ across case types. If a victim of medical malpractice doesn’t know they’ve been hurt right away, it could take them a while to figure it out and file a lawsuit.
People already at a disadvantage may feel the effects of the statute of limitations more acutely. People who do not know their rights or do not have access to legal representation may lose out on the chance to file claims by the deadline. People with less financial resources may feel this way, as they may think they need to save up a large sum of money before they can afford legal representation.
Finally, there may be inconsistency and misunderstanding due to differences in statute of limitations laws between jurisdictions. For instance, in verbal civil cases, the statute of limitations can be seven different lengths, as reported in the World Population Review.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act, which extended the statute of limitations on child molestation, into law on February 14, 2019. Victims of childhood abuse now have an additional twelve months to file criminal charges, and victims of any age can take advantage of a one-time 12-month litigation window.
The statute now allows victims to sue their abusers in civil court until they are 55 years old, and in criminal court until they are 28, up from the previous age limit of 23. Furthermore, victims of any age have a one-year window to file lawsuits according to the law. When the bill was up for approval before, this was a major roadblock.
The Catholic Church was an outspoken opponent of adding a one-year litigation window and extending the statute of limitations in the past. Both the Senate and the Assembly, which were then controlled by Democrats, passed the bill after it had been stalled for ten years by the Republican-controlled state Senate.
Florida has reduced the time limit for filing a negligence claim from 4 years to 2 years. This change affects the time frame for filing lawsuits for injuries and property damage caused by carelessness that happened after this date.
Statutes of limitations exist to shield would-be defendants from unjust legal action; this is due to the fact that important proof can become muddled or unretrievable after a long period of time has passed, and witnesses’ memories can become fuzzier.
Except in cases where express language specifies otherwise, the statute of limitations for most offenses under U.S. federal law is five years. Take capital murder as an example; it does not have a statute of limitations.
How much time passes before a debt becomes uncollectible depends on the nature of the debt and the state in which it is located. The duration can be anywhere from three to six years, with a maximum of fifteen years possible.
The answer depends on where the crime happened. While some states in the US have removed the statute of limitations altogether for the most heinous felony sex offenses, others have set them at ten to twenty years or even longer.
On the other hand, regardless of the location, there is usually no statute of limitations for more serious crimes like murder.
The time limit within which a person is able to initiate legal proceedings in a criminal or civil matter is known as a statute of limitations. There is no longer any legal recourse for the disputing parties once the statute of limitations has expired.
Creditors can’t sue consumers for past-due accounts after a certain amount of time has passed, according to statutes of limitations. Although payment is still due, creditors are no longer able to pursue collection measures like wage garnishment. Paying off debt is still a good idea because doing otherwise might have other consequences down the road.
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