New York’s statute of limitations by claim type ranges from one year for defamation, assault, and a handful of other intentional torts up to six years for breach of contract and fraud, with most personal injury and property damage claims falling at three years and medical malpractice at two years and six months. The deadline is set by the Civil Practice Law and Rules, and missing it almost always ends the case regardless of the underlying merits. Which number applies to you depends entirely on how the law classifies your claim and when it accrued.
When the Clock Starts Running
Under CPLR 203(a), a limitations period begins when the cause of action “accrues,” which usually means the moment the wrongful act happens.1New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 203 – Method of Computing Periods of Limitation Generally For a car crash, that’s the date of impact. For a broken contract, it’s the date of the breach. A few claims use different accrual rules. Fraud can accrue when you discover it. Medical malpractice can accrue at the end of a continuous course of treatment for the same condition rather than on the day of a single negligent visit.
CPLR 201 requires you to file within the period the statute sets for your claim, and it lets contracting parties shorten that period in writing.2New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 201 – Application of Article A clause in a service agreement can cut your filing window well below the statutory default. Courts have no authority to extend a limitations period beyond what the law provides.
If the last day of your deadline lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, New York’s General Construction Law rolls it to the next business day.3New York State Senate. New York General Construction Law 25-A – Public Holiday, Saturday or Sunday in Statutes
Six-Year Claims: Contract and Fraud
Breach of a written contract must be filed within six years of the breach under CPLR 213(2).4New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Section 213 Oral contracts get the same six years in New York, not the shorter window found in many other states.5NYCOURTS.GOV. Statute of Limitations Chart
Fraud claims also fall under six years, with a discovery-based alternative. CPLR 213(8) gives you the greater of six years from when the fraud occurred or two years from when you discovered it or reasonably should have. If someone defrauded you seven years ago and you uncovered the scheme last year, you still have time. Courts do expect proof that you were reasonably diligent in uncovering the fraud.
Contracts for the sale of goods take a different path. The Uniform Commercial Code gives you four years from the date of breach for a defective or nonconforming goods claim.6Legal Information Institute. UCC 2-725 – Statute of Limitations in Contracts for Sale The parties can agree in the contract to shorten that to as little as one year but cannot extend it. Warranties that explicitly cover future performance start the clock at discovery of the breach rather than at delivery.
Three-Year Claims: Personal Injury, Property Damage, and Most Professional Malpractice
CPLR 214 puts several major claim types on a three-year clock measured from the date of the harmful event.7New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 214 – Actions to Be Commenced Within Three Years Personal injury (car accidents, slip-and-falls, and the like) and property damage claims are the big categories. Professional malpractice against attorneys, accountants, architects, engineers, and similar professionals also gets three years. Medical, dental, and podiatric malpractice are treated separately, under their own statute.
Federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 borrow this same three-year period when filed in New York, because the federal statute has no built-in deadline and courts apply the forum state’s personal injury limit.
Medical Malpractice: Two Years and Six Months
CPLR 214-a sets the baseline deadline for medical, dental, and podiatric malpractice at two years and six months.8New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 214-A – Action for Medical, Dental or Podiatric Malpractice The clock runs from the date of the negligent act or from the end of continuous treatment by the same provider for the same condition, whichever is later. If your doctor was negligent in January but you kept seeing that doctor for the same problem through June, the two-and-a-half-year period starts in June.
Two exceptions extend the deadline further:
- Foreign objects. If a surgeon leaves an instrument, sponge, or similar object in your body, you have one year from when you discovered it or reasonably should have to file suit.
- Cancer misdiagnosis under Lavern’s Law. When a provider negligently fails to diagnose cancer, the deadline is two and a half years from the later of when you knew or should have known about the misdiagnosis or the end of continuous treatment for the condition, capped at seven years from the negligent act.
Two-Year and One-Year Claims
Wrongful death carries a two-year deadline measured from the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury.5NYCOURTS.GOV. Statute of Limitations Chart That distinction matters when someone is hurt in one year and dies later.
CPLR 215 puts several intentional-tort claims on a one-year clock:9New York State Senate. New York Consolidated Laws, Civil Practice Law and Rules CVP Section 215
- Defamation (libel and slander): one year from publication.
- Assault and battery: one year from the incident.
- False imprisonment: one year from the confinement.
- Malicious prosecution: one year from favorable termination of the underlying proceeding.
Defamation catches plaintiffs off guard more than any other. By the time the damage becomes obvious enough to send someone looking for a lawyer, the year is often nearly up.
Claims Against Government Entities
Suing a city, county, school district, or other municipality in New York requires a preliminary step. Under General Municipal Law § 50-e, you must serve a notice of claim on the municipality within 90 days of the incident. You then have to wait at least 30 days before starting the lawsuit, and the lawsuit itself must be filed within one year and 90 days of the event.10NYCourts.gov. Filing a Notice of Claim
Claims against the State of New York are filed in the Court of Claims rather than Supreme Court. Under Court of Claims Act § 10, negligence-based personal injury and property damage claims must be filed within 90 days of accrual. Filing a notice of intention within that window extends the deadline to two years from accrual for negligence claims or one year for intentional torts.11New York State Court of Claims. Frequently Asked Questions Missing the 90-day notice window against a municipality, or the Court of Claims filing deadlines, is usually fatal. Late filings are allowed only in narrow circumstances and the standard is demanding.
When the Clock Pauses
Certain conditions toll the statute of limitations and add time to your deadline.
Minors and Incapacitated Adults
CPLR 208 tolls the limitations period for anyone under 18 or legally incapacitated at the time the claim accrues. When the underlying deadline is three years or longer, the person gets at least three years after the disability ends. When the deadline is shorter, the tolled time is added to whatever remained. A ten-year overall cap applies to claims by incapacitated adults but not to minors, except in medical malpractice cases.12New York State Senate. New York Code CVP Article 2 – 208 – Infancy, Insanity
The Defendant Was Outside New York
Under CPLR 207, if the defendant was outside the state when the claim accrued, the clock does not begin until they enter or return. If they leave afterward and stay away continuously for four months or more, that absence is excluded from the limitations period.13New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 207 – Defendants Absence From State or Residence Under False Name The same rule covers a defendant living in New York under a false name unknown to the plaintiff. This tolling does not apply if you could have obtained personal jurisdiction anyway, such as through long-arm jurisdiction.
Active-Duty Military Service
The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prevents any period of active military service from counting toward a state limitations period, whether the servicemember is the plaintiff or the defendant.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 U.S. Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations
COVID-19 Emergency Tolling
Executive Order 202.8, issued March 20, 2020, tolled statutory filing deadlines throughout New York’s civil and criminal procedural laws.15NYCourts.gov. Executive Order 202.8 – Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws Successive orders extended it through November 3, 2020. For any limitations period that was running during that window, those days do not count against you. This still comes up when a 2020-era deadline calculation is close.
If You Miss the Deadline
A defendant can move to dismiss on statute-of-limitations grounds under CPLR 3211(a)(5).16FindLaw. New York Consolidated Laws, Civil Practice Law and Rules CVP Rule 3211 – Motion to Dismiss If the court agrees the deadline has passed, the case ends and the merits become irrelevant. Even without an early motion, the defendant can raise the deadline as an affirmative defense at any stage. Settlement leverage evaporates once a claim is time-barred, because opposing counsel and insurers know the case cannot survive dismissal.
One narrow safety net exists. CPLR 205(a), the “savings provision” or six-month rule, gives you six months from the date of dismissal to refile the same claim if your original, timely lawsuit was dismissed for reasons other than voluntary withdrawal, failure to prosecute, lack of personal jurisdiction, or a final judgment on the merits.17New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 205 – Termination of Action It only helps if the original filing was on time. It does nothing for someone who blew the deadline the first time. Equitable estoppel is available in narrow situations where a defendant’s own concealment or deception caused the late filing, but courts apply it sparingly.
Filing Stops the Clock, But Service Still Matters
Under CPLR 304, a lawsuit is officially commenced when the summons and complaint (or summons with notice) is filed with the court.18New York State Senate. New York Code CVP Article 3 – 304 – Method of Commencing Action or Special Proceeding That filing stops the statute of limitations. You do not have to serve the defendant first to meet the deadline.
You do, however, have to serve within 120 days of filing under CPLR 306-b. When the underlying limitations period is four months or less, service must be completed no later than 15 days after that period expires. Miss the service window and the court will dismiss unless you can show good cause or that the interests of justice warrant an extension. Filing on time and then failing to serve is one of the most common ways a viable claim collapses.
New York does have a borrowing statute, CPLR 202, that applies whichever deadline is shorter, New York’s or the other state’s, when a nonresident sues in New York over events that happened elsewhere. New York residents whose claims accrued in New York are not affected.