Statute of Limitations
A statute that bars a cause of action after a specified period from accrual. Texas limitations periods are codified principally in Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 16: 2 years (most torts, DTPA, wrongful death), 4 years (debt, fraud, and contract claims under § 16.004 or the residual § 16.051), 5 years (specific actions). The discovery rule may toll accrual in specific contexts. Distinct from statutes of repose (fixed external event regardless of accrual). Multiple tolling and exception doctrines apply.
Most Texas civil claims must be filed within two or four years of accrual under Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 16. Personal injury and conversion get two years (§ 16.003); debt, fraud and fiduciary breach get four (§ 16.004), as do claims with no listed period (§ 16.051).
A statute of limitations is a statute that bars a cause of action after a specified period from accrual. The doctrine serves multiple purposes: providing finality and repose, requiring prompt pursuit of claims while evidence is fresh, and protecting defendants from stale claims. Texas limitations periods are codified principally in Chapter 16 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, with cause-specific periods ranging from one year (defamation) to 25 years (some suits to recover land held in adverse possession). Limitations is a defense, the defendant must affirmatively plead and prove it.
- Governing law
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 16
- Shortest common period
- One year for libel, slander and malicious prosecution (§ 16.002)
- Default period
- Four years when no statute sets one, except suits to recover real property (§ 16.051)
- Contract limits
- A contractual period shorter than two years is void, with an exception for business-entity sales of $500,000 or more (§ 16.070)
- Weekend deadline
- Runs to the next day county offices are open (§ 16.072)
Common limitations periods
Frequently encountered Texas limitations periods: (1) 1 year, defamation (libel and slander); malicious prosecution; (2) 2 years, most torts (negligence, trespass, conversion, intentional torts); wrongful death; survival claims; DTPA (separate § 17.565); (3) 4 years, contracts (oral and written, under § 16.004 or the residual § 16.051); fraud; debt; usury (special); breach of fiduciary duty; (4) 5 years, adverse possession (specific scenarios); (5) 10 years, dormancy of a judgment if no writ of execution issues (§ 34.001), with revival possible within two years after dormancy (§ 31.006); adverse possession (other scenarios); (6) 25 years, adverse possession regardless of disability (§§ 16.027, 16.028). The rule of thumb: torts run 2 years, contracts run 4 years, with significant exceptions in both directions.
Accrual, when the clock starts
Limitations runs from accrual, the date the cause of action accrues. Default rule: a cause of action accrues when "facts come into existence which authorize a claimant to seek a judicial remedy" (Johnson & Higgins of Tex., Inc. v. Kenneco Energy, Inc., 962 S.W.2d 507 (Tex. 1998)). Specific accrual rules: (1) contract claims, accrue at breach; (2) tort claims, accrue at injury; (3) fraud claims, accrue at the fraudulent act, but discovery rule typically applies; (4) continuing torts, accrue at each occurrence; (5) installment contracts, separate accrual for each missed installment, unless acceleration. Accrual analysis is fact-specific; sophisticated parties dispute accrual dates frequently.
The discovery rule
The discovery rule tolls accrual until the plaintiff knows or, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known of the injury and its cause. Texas applies the discovery rule selectively, not to all causes of action but to specific categories where the injury is inherently undiscoverable: (1) fraud (where the defendant concealed the wrongdoing); (2) fiduciary breach in some contexts; (3) certain professional negligence. Health care liability claims follow their own two-year statute, which runs from the breach or the completed treatment "notwithstanding any other law" and carries a 10-year repose period (§ 74.251). The discovery rule does not generally apply to ordinary contract or tort claims with overt injuries. Plaintiffs invoking the discovery rule bear the burden of pleading and proving the elements.
Fraudulent concealment
Fraudulent concealment is a related but distinct doctrine: where the defendant knew of the wrongdoing and concealed it, limitations is tolled until the plaintiff discovers (or should have discovered) the wrongdoing. Unlike the discovery rule (which is a substantive accrual rule), fraudulent concealment is an equitable estoppel doctrine. S.V. v. R.V. (Tex. 1996) treats fraud and fraudulent concealment as one of two categories of deferred accrual, and Computer Associates v. Altai (Tex. 1996) describes deferral for concealment as resembling equitable estoppel. Plaintiffs invoke fraudulent concealment to defeat limitations defenses where their claim was timely-filed but for the concealment.
Tolling and exceptions
Multiple Texas tolling doctrines: (1) plaintiff's disability, minority, mental incapacity (§ 16.001); (2) defendant's absence from state, § 16.063; (3) late counterclaims, § 16.069 (a same-transaction counterclaim or cross claim may be filed though otherwise barred, if filed by the 30th day after the party's answer is due); (4) fraudulent concealment, equitable estoppel; (5) continuing tort, accrual restarts at each new occurrence; (6) contractual periods, an agreed period shorter than two years is void, except in business-entity sale or purchase agreements of $500,000 or more (§ 16.070); (7) court-ordered tolling in bankruptcy and similar contexts. Each tolling doctrine has specific elements and limits.
Limitations vs. repose
Statutes of limitations and statutes of repose are distinct: (1) limitations runs from accrual (when the cause of action arose); subject to discovery rule and tolling doctrines; affects the remedy. (2) repose runs from a fixed external event (substantial completion of construction, sale of product); not subject to discovery rule or most tolling; extinguishes the underlying right. See Statute of Repose. Repose periods are typically longer than limitations but provide an absolute outer boundary.
Limitations as affirmative defense
Limitations is an affirmative defense, the defendant must plead it specifically (Tex. R. Civ. P. 94) and prove its elements. On summary judgment, the defendant must conclusively prove when the claim accrued and, if the discovery rule has been pleaded or raised, negate it. Only then must the plaintiff raise a fact issue in avoidance, and a plaintiff relying on fraudulent concealment must support it with summary-judgment evidence, not a pleading (KPMG Peat Marwick v. Harrison County Housing Finance Corp., 988 S.W.2d 746 (Tex. 1999)). A defendant that leaves limitations out of its answer can add it by amended pleading, though leave of court is required within seven days of trial or after a scheduling-order deadline (Tex. R. Civ. P. 63).
Periods that depart from the two- and four-year defaults
- Trade secret misappropriation: three years from when the misappropriation was discovered or reasonably should have been, with a continuing misappropriation treated as one claim (§ 16.010).
- Deceptive Trade Practices Act claims: two years from the act or from when the consumer discovered or reasonably should have discovered it (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.565).
- Health care liability claims: two years from the breach or the completed treatment, with a 10-year outer limit the statute calls a statute of repose (§ 74.251).
- Foreclosure of a real property lien: four years, after which the lien and any power of sale become void (§ 16.035).
- Suits against licensed design professionals and builders over improvements to real property: generally 10 years from substantial completion, eight for most governmental claimants, and six against a residential contractor that gave a qualifying written warranty (§§ 16.008, 16.009).
What is the 10 year statute of limitations in Texas?
Several Texas deadlines run 10 years, and they do different jobs. A suit to recover land from someone in peaceable and adverse possession who cultivates, uses or enjoys it must be brought within 10 years (§ 16.026). Most claims over defective construction or design are cut off 10 years after substantial completion (§§ 16.008, 16.009). A money judgment goes dormant if no writ of execution issues within 10 years (§ 34.001), and can be revived within two years after that (§ 31.006).
What crimes have no statute of limitations in Texas?
Murder and manslaughter have no limitation period, and article 12.01 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lists others with none, including sexual assault of a child, continuous sexual abuse of a young child or disabled individual, and certain trafficking offenses (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 12.01(1)). Criminal periods are set in Chapter 12 of that code, separate from the civil periods in Chapter 16. Most misdemeanors carry two years (art. 12.02).
What is the statute of limitations for sexual assault in Texas?
For a civil suit, five years from accrual when the injury arises from sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault of an adult, and 30 years when it arises from sexual assault of a child or the other offenses against children or disabled individuals listed in the statute (§ 16.0045(a)-(b)). Filing against an unknown "John or Jane Doe" tolls the period while the plaintiff diligently identifies the defendant (§ 16.0045(d)). Criminal charges follow the separate periods in Chapter 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
For Texas commercial parties, limitations is among the most common defenses raised in commercial litigation. Because accrual is often disputed, plaintiffs' counsel commonly calendar from the earliest date a court might pick, and a same-transaction counterclaim has its own 30-day window under § 16.069. Defendants plead limitations under Rule 94 and often test it by summary judgment, where they carry the burden of proving the accrual date.