The relation-back doctrine involves both the statute of limitations and the amendment of a lawsuit. To be viable, any lawsuit must be timely filed within the applicable statute of limitations. “Statutes of limitation were never intended to be used as swords. Rather, they are shields, primarily designed to assure fairness to defendants by prohibiting stale…
Legal Articles
Equitable Tolling
Equitable tolling refers to a court extending the time to file a claim outside of the normal statute of limitations. A “statute of limitations may be suspended or tolled only by specific disabilities or exceptions enacted by the legislature and the courts are not empowered to extend those exceptions.” Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. v. Director of…
Contracts Shortening The Statute of Limitations
Contracts may contain all sorts of provisions that are agreed upon by the parties. But there are limits created by courts and legislatures. For example, to avoid bypassing the statute of limitations, contractual provisions which shorten the time to file a lawsuit are generally void. Section 431.030, RSMo, in no uncertain terms provides: “[a]ll parts…
Abandoned Pleadings
Once a pleading — whether it be a petition, answer, etc. — is amended the prior iteration of the pleading is considered “abandoned.” Unless the subsequent pleading adopts or incorporates the contents of a prior pleading, the abandoned pleadings is largely irrelevant. In no uncertain terms, Missouri courts have described it as a “mere scrap…
Reformation Statute of Limitations
Reformation is a legal theory used to correct mistakes in a legal document. More technically, it is an “extraordinary equitable remedy and should be granted with great caution and only in clear cases of fraud or mistake.” Morris v. Brown, 941 S.W.2d 835, 840 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997). For example, in cases of mistake, the mistake…
Statute of Limitations, Jury Question
When the statute of limitations expires, claims are time-barred. Different claims have different statutes of limitations. The running of the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense that must be pleaded. City of Ellisville v. Lohman, 972 S.W.2d 527, 530 (Mo. Ct. App. 198). The deadline usually starts running when damages become ascertainable. Failure to plead…
Contract Statute of Limitations
Five years is the general statute of limitations in Missouri. There are two different statutes of limitations applying to breach of contract claims. Section 516.120(1), RSMo requires “all actions upon contracts, obligations or liabilities, express or implied, except those mentioned in section 516.110, and except upon judgments or decrees of a court of record, and…
Continuing Wrong Exception to Statute of Limitations
Failure to bring a claim within the applicable statute of limitations means that the claim is time-barred. The best lawsuit in the world cannot be brought out of time. The clock starts ticking on when to bring the claim when the cause of action has “accrued” — i.e., usually when the damages are reasonably ascertainable….
Statute of Limitations for Quiet Title Claims
A quiet title claim is a request to the Court to determine all interests in a parcel of real estate. It is often used to clear title and ownership disputes. Though it is not frequently an issue, there is a limitations period to bring such a claim. Specifically, there is a ten (10) year statute…
Specific versus General Statute of Limitations
There is a general statute of limitations in Missouri stating that most claims must be brought within five (5) years. See Section 516.120, RSMo. Many times, however, it is not immediately obvious which limitations period will apply to a particular claim. For this reason, many will suggest that five years is a general rule of thumb to…