Statute of Limitations calculation

On May 30, 3:19 pm, Johnny <J0hn_2...@rock.com> wrote:
> Regarding an unpaid debt and the statute of limitations. The question
> is; if the statute  of limitations is one year (just for this
> discussion) and the last payment was made on January 1st 2006 does the
> statute of limitations expire on the anniversary date, Jan 1 2007 or
> does it expire at midnight December 31, 2006? It seems to me that if
> it expires on Jan 1 2007, that would be one year and a day rather than
> the stated one year.

State laws vary on this.   Trying to rely just on logical reasoning in situations like this is a mistake.   Actually, both interpretations are reasonable, and to some degree the choice between them is arbitrary, which is OK as long as each state has a clear and consistent rule announced in advance.

Many states' rules for calculating time provide that the day of an event is not included in the calculation so, if a rule requires something be done within 30 days after some other event, and the first event happened on, say, May 1, the second event would be due to be completed by May 31, the 31st day.   If something has to be done within 365 days after an initial occurrence, the last day to do it is 365 days _later_ than that, i.e. if the day of the event is day 1, the 366th day (in a leap year, the 367th day, if the time interval is stated in years rather than in days.   Watch out for that one if it's actually stated in days: foax sometimes get "180 days"/"6 months" mixed up, or "30 days"/"one month", to their profound regret.

--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult your own lawyer in a
private communication.

Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685      (fax) 410-740-4300