Not So Fast! Statute of Limitations Bars Claims for Enforcement of Statutory Duties But Does Not Bar Other Action For Damages Based on That Duty.

Claims under state statutes or Federal statutes have different periods of limitation under which you can file suit.

BUT — if the statutory duty that was breached is part of another claim that is not barred by the statute of limitations then you can survive a motion to dismiss or even an affirmative defense of statute of limitations.

Sound crazy? Actually it isn’t.

I have already discussed claims for damages that are barred by the statute of limitations but he same statute does not bar the same pleading as an affirmative defense because that is NOT, for procedural purposes, a “claim.” Those are generally called Defenses for Recoupment which allow awards of damages for money and even court costs and attorney fees that might ordinarily be barred. Several lawyers have recognized this and some who have been successful have brought it to my attention and even appeared as a guest on the Neil Garfield Show.

Now for the past year, more decisions are coming out predicated on public policy. You cannot raise a claim for violation of HAMP, FDCPA or TILA after the period of limitations has expired but you can use the statutory violation as the basis of a claim under another right of action. So if the state, for example, has a law that allows a private right of action for damages for breach of a duty, that duty might come from a statute that has expired but is still in operation as evidence of the duty of fair dealing and against wrongful enrichment.

see https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1f747ad6-1d9c-43f8-8c61-431f099cc58b

The bank informed the plaintiffs of the error, provided a check for $15,000, and after mediation, paid the plaintiffs another $25,000. The plaintiffs filed a class action against the bank, asserting claims for violation of the WCPA and unjust enrichment. The bank moved to dismiss the action, arguing, among other things, that the WCPA claim was an “impermissible attempt to enforce the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which creates no private right of action.” The court disagreed with the bank, determining that while the mortgage modification application was filed pursuant to HAMP, the plaintiffs “do not seek to enforce HAMP.” Instead, the plaintiffs argue that the wrongful denial of their application and failure to disclose the calculation error for three years “constitutes unfair or deceptive conduct in violation of the [WCPA].”

Tags: public policy, recoupment, statute of limitations
Posted in Motions, Pleading |