(a) Actions barred at effective date. Nothing in this article shall authorize any action to be commenced which is barred when this article becomes effective, except insofar as the right to commence the action may be revived by an acknowledgment or payment.
§ 218.Transitional provisions.
Article 2. Limitations of Time · Last amended 1963 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 218 is the 1963 savings clause for Article 2's overhaul of the limitations rules: it keeps already time-barred claims from being revived, and for claims not yet barred, gives the plaintiff whichever period — the old law's or the new article's — runs longer.
Full Text of CPLR 218
(b) Cause of action accrued and not barred at effective date. Where a cause of action accrued before, and is not barred when this article becomes effective, the time within which an action must be commenced shall be the time which would have been applicable apart from the provisions of this article, or the time which would have been applicable if the provisions of this article had been in effect when the cause of action accrued, whichever is longer.
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 218 accompanied the wholesale rewrite of New York's statute of limitations framework that took effect in 1963. A change that broad, touching nearly every deadline in the state's civil practice, needed a transition rule: without one, the new article risked either reviving claims that had been dead for years under the old law, or cutting off claims that were still timely when the new law arrived.
Subdivision (a) handles the first risk directly. A claim already barred under the law in effect before Article 2 took effect stays barred — the new article doesn't revive it, except to whatever extent an acknowledgment or partial payment would independently have revived it under ordinary principles apart from this section.
Subdivision (b) handles the second. For a claim that accrued before Article 2's effective date but wasn't yet barred, the plaintiff gets whichever period is longer: the time that would have applied under the prior law, or the time that would have applied had Article 2 already been in effect when the claim accrued. The plaintiff always keeps the more generous of the two.
CPLR 218's core logic — don't revive what's already dead, and give the claimant the longer of two available periods — echoes on a smaller scale in later, narrower revival statutes: CPLR 214-e's HIV/AIDS blood product revival, CPLR 214-g's Child Victims Act window, and CPLR 214-j's Adult Survivors Act window all share that same structure, applied to one specific class of claim instead of the whole body of civil law.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does CPLR 218 do?
It's the transitional rule that accompanied Article 2's 1963 overhaul of New York's statute of limitations scheme.
Does CPLR 218 revive claims that were already time-barred before Article 2 took effect?
No. Claims already barred stay barred, except to the extent an acknowledgment or payment would independently have revived them.
What happens to a claim that accrued before Article 2 took effect but wasn't yet barred?
The plaintiff gets whichever period is longer: the prior law's period, or the period Article 2 would have provided had it already been in effect when the claim accrued.
Is CPLR 218 still relevant to lawsuits filed today?
Its core function was tied to the 1963 transition to Article 2, though its principle of giving claimants the longer of two available periods has echoed in later, narrower revival provisions like CPLR 214-e, 214-g, and 214-j.
Why did the legislature need a transitional provision for the new limitations rules?
Rewriting every limitations period in one statute risked either reviving claims that were already dead under the old law or cutting off claims that were still timely, so CPLR 218 set a rule for handling both situations.
Advisory Committee Notes
The section is new and prescribes a governing rule in respect to causes of action which accrued prior to the effective date of the enacting legislation. It is not intended that causes which are barred prior to the effective date of the legislation be revived. As to causes of action which are not barred, the claimant has the benefit of the provision more favorable to him.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1963.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: New York statute of limitations transitional ruleCPLR Article 2 savings clause1963 statute of limitations transition New Yorkold law versus new law statute of limitations New York