Purpose of Statute of Limitations Defense

The primary purpose of a statute of limitations defense is to protect the defendants. The plaintiff who has a good cause of action should carefully initiate legal proceedings. There might a long time involved to hear the case in the legal proceedings. Due to the longer time taken, the patient can become stale. The defendant may lose the necessary evidence to contradict the claim, or the defendant may have faded memories about the action to refute the claim. The witnesses may also be lost due to the lengthy litigation process, and it may turn out that the defendant is unable to disprove the claim. Justice may not be given to the defendant in such cases; hence statutes of limitations are established on matters to defend the defendants. Some professional accusers continue to claim that the opposite party has committed a crime. To control such accusers, the statute of limitations is established in almost most cases. When the plaintiff’s cause of action is maintained initially in the court of law, the limitation period begins. The lawsuits can be addressed promptly with the application of the statute of limitations defense. Hence, for any offense or claim, when a person wants to file a case against another person, they should follow the timelines to apply for the lawsuit. More prolonged lawsuits or stale claims being filled by few people can be controlled using and establishing statutes of limitations defenses.

The day on which an offense had happened or action had occurred is the beginning of the statute of limitations. For example, if a person is injured in an accident and is hospitalized for three months, the statute of limitations begins on the day when the accident had occurred. It can also start on the day when the plaintiff had discovered an injury that was not known earlier. It is called the discovery rule. As the name implies, claims of damages that were found new are covered here. Such types of claims usually occur when the person does not know when the injury or harm occurred. Medical malpractice claims are the majority of the claims that fall under this category. The statute of limitations will start discovering the action, injury, or offense, or the date when the plaintiff should have discovered the harm. Reaching out a lawyer is advisable to know how long a person has to file lawsuits for claiming.

Earliest – Exact date when harm had occurred.

Later – Date on which the plaintiff should have practically learned about the injury or harm.

Latest – The date on which the plaintiff discovered the actual harm or injury.

Understanding Tolling
If a plaintiff is a minor the statute of limitations will be paused or suspended until he or she attains the age of majority. The running period to initiate legal proceedings is paused for minor cases. The lawsuit can be filed post the statute of limitations has run. The rules for tolling the statute of limitations vary between jurisdictions. Some of the standard regulations for tolling include the below conditions applicable.

The plaintiff should be a minor at the time of occurrence of the harm, injury

The plaintiff is convicted for an offense, and it requires imprisonment.

The defendant has filed for bankruptcy.

The defendant has initiated a stay on the lawsuit, so they have time to submit the documents.

The defendant is not physically present within a particular jurisdiction.

The mental stability of the plaintiff is believed to be incompetent.

When the statute of limitations expires, the contracting parties engage in a discussion to mutually negotiate to resolve the dispute. In such cases, litigations are not required.

When passing statutes of limitation, the law explains when the limitation period could be extended. A law is created to define the absolute deadline for filling a contract to reduce the disconnects around tolling. A tolling agreement is a written contract. The parties involved in the dispute agree to waive the right to claim that the particular action is time-barred due to the statute of limitations being applied.