New York statutes of limitations: six, three, two and a half, and one

New York's limitations periods are set out in a single article of the CPLR, organized by length rather than by subject. That structure is efficient once you know it and confusing until you do — the article to read first is whichever one matches the period, not the claim.

Here they are in order, with the traps that matter.

Six years — CPLR 213

The following actions must be commenced within six years: 1. an action for which no limitation is specifically prescribed by law; 2. an action upon a contractual obligation or liability, express or implied, except as provided in section two hundred thirteen-a or two hundred fourteen-i of this article or article 2 of the uniform commercial code or article 36-B of the general business law; 3. an action upon a sealed instrument; 4. an action upon a bond or note … secured by a mortgage upon real property …

Two things worth noting.

Subsection 1 is the catch-all. Where no period is specifically prescribed, it is six years. That makes CPLR 213 the default rather than an exception.

Contract is six years, with carve-outs. The exceptions listed matter: UCC article 2 (sale of goods) has its own four-year period, and the consumer-credit and other cross-referenced provisions have theirs.

Three years — CPLR 214

The following actions must be commenced within three years: … 3. an action to recover a chattel or damages for the taking or detaining of a chattel; 4. an action to recover damages for an injury to property except as provided in section 214-c; 5. an action to recover damages for a personal injury except as provided in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215; 6. an action to recover damages for malpractice, other than medical, dental or podiatric malpractice, regardless of whether the underlying theory is based in contract or tort …

Three points.

Personal injury is three years, not two as in many states, and not the two-and-a-half of medical malpractice.

Subsection 6 closes the pleading-around problem. Non-medical malpractice — legal, accounting, architectural — is three years "regardless of whether the underlying theory is based in contract or tort." Recasting a legal malpractice claim as a breach of the retainer does not buy the six-year contract period.

And the exceptions are load-bearing. Section 214-c is the toxic-substance discovery rule; section 215 takes the intentional torts out of the three-year period entirely.

Two years and six months — CPLR 214-a

An action for medical, dental or podiatric malpractice must be commenced within two years and six months of the act, omission or failure complained of or last treatment where there is continuous treatment for the same illness, injury or condition which gave rise to the said act, omission or failure; provided, however, that: (a) where the action is based upon the discovery of a foreign object in the body of the patient, the action may be commenced within one year of the date of such discovery or of the date of discovery of facts which would reasonably lead to such discovery, whichever is earlier …

The continuous treatment doctrine is in the statute itself, not merely in case law: the period runs from the last treatment for the same condition, which can move the date substantially later than the negligent act.

Subsection (b) addresses the failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumour and sets its own discovery-based rule.

One year — CPLR 215

The following actions shall be commenced within one year: … 3. an action to recover damages for assault, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel, slander, false words causing special damages, or a violation of the right of privacy under section fifty-one of the civil rights law …

This is the shortest and the most dangerous, because the claims in it look like ordinary personal injury.

An assault is a personal injury in plain language — but it is a one-year claim under CPLR 215(3), not a three-year claim under CPLR 214(5), because 214(5) expressly excepts section 215. A client who arrives eighteen months after a bar fight has a time-barred assault claim and, possibly, a live negligence claim against a different defendant.

When the clock starts, and when it is interposed

CPLR 203(a):

Accrual of cause of action and interposition of claim. The time within which an action must be commenced, except as otherwise expressly prescribed, shall be computed from the time the cause of action accrued to the time the claim is interposed.

And CPLR 203(b) explains interposition in an action commenced by service — the claim is interposed when the summons is served on the defendant, or on first publication under an order subsequently completed, among other events.

Since 1992, New York's Supreme and County Courts are commencement-by-filing courts, so the practical question in most cases is the filing date. But CPLR 203(b) still governs where an action is commenced by service, and it is worth knowing which regime your court is in before relying on either.

The six-month savings provision

CPLR 205(a) is the safety net, and its conditions are precise:

If an action is timely commenced and is terminated in any other manner than by a voluntary discontinuance, a failure to obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a dismissal of the complaint for neglect to prosecute the action, or a final judgment upon the merits, the plaintiff … may commence a new action upon the same transaction or occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences within six months after the termination provided that the new action would have been timely commenced at the time of commencement of the prior action and that service upon defendant is effected within such six-month period.

Read the four exclusions. The provision does not save you where the first action ended by voluntary discontinuance, by failure to obtain personal jurisdiction, by dismissal for neglect to prosecute, or on the merits.

And read the two conditions at the end. The new action must have been timely when the first was commenced, and service must be effected within the six months — not merely filing. That second requirement catches people who treat CPLR 205(a) as a six-month filing extension.

How New York compares

A short checklist

1. Find the period by claim, then check the exceptions in the same section. CPLR 214(5) and 214(4) both defer to other provisions.
2. Do not assume personal injury means three years. If the claim is assault, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel or slander, it is one.
3. Do not recast malpractice as contract. CPLR 214(6) applies the three-year period regardless of theory.
4. For medical malpractice, ask when treatment for that condition ended, not only when the act occurred.
5. Check whether a foreign object or a cancer-diagnosis rule applies — both have their own discovery-based periods.
6. Confirm whether your court is commencement-by-filing or by service before relying on a date.
7. If a prior action was dismissed, test CPLR 205(a) against all four exclusions before counting on the six months.
8. Remember 205(a) requires service inside the six months, not just filing.

Where these rules live

• CPLR 201 — Application of article.
• CPLR 203 — Method of computing periods of limitation generally.
• CPLR 204 — Stay of commencement of action; demand for arbitration.
• CPLR 205 — Termination of action.
• CPLR 213 — Actions to be commenced within six years
• CPLR 214 — Actions to be commenced within three years
• CPLR 214-a — Action for medical, dental or podiatric malpractice to be commenced within two years and six months; exceptions.
• CPLR 214-c — Certain actions to be commenced within three years of discovery.
• CPLR 215 — Actions to be commenced within one year

This page explains what the statutes say. It isn't legal advice, and accrual, tolling for infancy or disability, and the discovery rule are fact-specific and developed in case law this site doesn't cover.