Case study - Statute of Limitation

I.- Mr. Smith had a car accident on then 25.08.2012. Today is 26.09.2013.

a) Mr. Smith comes to your law firm because he wants to claim damages for the injuries that
he suffered as a consequence of the accident. Is he on time?

Yes, but only if he can prove that he became aware of the damage of that accident the day
26.09.2013 or later, since the statute of limitations for a tort injury is 1 year.

b) What part of the Civil Law regulates this type of action?

Is regulated by the “Obligations, contracts and tort law” part of the civil law, more specifically,
only the tort law

c) Would there be any difference if today was 25.07.2013?

Yes, in this case, the person who suffered the damages wouldn’t have to prove when he
became aware of the damage, since is in the 1-year period for tort claims

d) You accept Mr. Smith as a client and decide to go to Court. Before which Court would you
file the corresponding civil claim?

The provincial court, we don’t choose a “higher” / ”more important” court because is not a
very important matter.

e) You obtained a favorable judgement for your client on 15.03.2014 but he has not paid your
fees up until now. Which is the status of limitation for you to judicially request payment of
your professional fees?

5 years, because is a personal action in which a contract was probably signed, that means that
but not paying your fees you are breaching said contract. The limit date to request payment is
15.03.2019

f) Is there any way in which you could extend this deadline?

Yes, there’s three ways: with a judicial claim, an extrajudicial claim (you need an evidence in
this case) or by an acknowledgement of the debt. If any of the following conditions take place,
the deadline will be extended (it depends on the situation, it can variate from 1 to 30 years)
without considering the time that has passed.

II.- Ms. Johnston paid a monthly rent of 500€ for a cozy flat in the city center. She lost her
job in July 2005. In January 2006 she ceased to pay any rent, although she did not leave the
apartment until January 2009. In January 2013 the landlord comes to your law firm because he
wants to recover all the money that Ms. Johnston owes to him.

a) Do you think that landlord has a good chance of winning the case?

No, because the statute of limitation for periodical obligations, payable in a yearly basis or
shorter terms is 5 years, taking into account this information we can calculate that the action
arises in 01/2006, when she stopped paying her rent, and the landlord didn’t claim his money
till 01/2013, that’s 7 years.
Although, one thing the plaintiff could use to win is that she didn’t leave the apartment till
2009, i.e., she’s been living rent free for three years, which can be use in his favor to win the
case.

b) What is the exact amount that he would be entitled to receive?

In the case of winning, the max amount of money she should pay, is those three years in which
she was living there rent free. 500 euros times 36 months (3 years), 18000 euros. But we also
must take into account other factors, for example, the defense could say that she’s bankrupt
and that therefore she’s not able to pay, other factor that should be taken into account is that
the landlord could ask for an “extra” economic compensation, saying that not receiving those
18000 euros affected his financial stability and therefore causing him a big economic loss.

III.- Mr. Williams bought a racehorse from his close friend Ms. Jones on 01.01.2010. They
agreed that Mr. Williams would pay Ms. Jones 3.000 € upon the arrival of the horse to Mr.
Williams' stable. The horse arrived at Mr. Williams property on 16.01.2010 but he never paid
the agreed 3.000 € to Ms. Jones. On 01.01.2012 Ms. Jones sends Mr. Williams an email
formally requesting payment of the due amount. Mr. Williams answers the email on
14.03.2013 saying that he is aware of the fact that he owes her the price of the horse but
unfortunately, he does not have the money now.

a) When will the statute of limitation period for Ms. Jones to sue Mr. Williams elapse?

Since Mr. Williams answered the email and he acknowledged that there’s a debt the statute of
limitation starts to “count” from that day (14.03.2013), now we have to determinate which
type of action is taking place in this scenario, since he owns money to someone because of the
sale of a horse (movable property), we can say that this is a real right action related to
movable property.

Taking all this into account we can say that the statute of limitation period is 6 years, in
15.03.2019 Ms. Jones won’t be able to sue Mr. Williams.