Statute of limitations: learning to calculate correctly

Often in practice, organizations are forced to act in court as a plaintiff or defendant. At the same time, judges, protecting the interests of the parties to the dispute, monitor the validity of the property claims of some persons against others. The legislation provides for rules that allow one of the parties to block the judicial resolution of a dispute on the merits if the other party applied for protection of its rights too late.

The period of time during which an organization or individual can go to court to protect their rights is called the statute of limitations, the omission of which is the basis for the court to make a decision to deny the claim.

How to correctly calculate such a period that can be interrupted, begin to be calculated again, or be suspended? You will learn about this from this article.

General and special limitation periods.

The limitation period is recognized as the period for protecting the right under the claim of a person whose right has been violated (Article 195 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 200 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, unless otherwise established by law, the limitation period begins from the day when the person whose right was violated learned or should have known:

• about violation of your right;
• about who is the proper defendant in a claim for the protection of this right.

Moreover, as specified in paragraph 1 of Resolution No. 43, we are talking about the totality of these circumstances.

In accordance with the provisions of Art. 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the general limitation period is three years from the date determined in accordance with Art. 200 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Moreover, the limitation period cannot exceed ten years from the date of violation of the right for the protection of which this period is established (except for cases determined by Federal Law No. 35-FZ).

For certain types of claims, the law may introduce special limitation periods, longer or shorter than the general period (clause 1 of Article 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). If we talk about longer ones, then an example would be a ten-year period for claims to apply the consequences of the invalidity of a void transaction (Clause 1 of Article 181 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Shortened statutes of limitations are established in Part II of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. For example, a one-year limitation period is provided for:

• for claims made in connection with inadequate quality of work performed under a contract (clause 1 of Article 725);
• for requirements for the carriage of goods (clause 3 of Article 797).

Article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for special deadlines for going to court to resolve an individual labor dispute. Thus, the employee has the right to apply:

• within three months from the day when he learned or should have learned about the violation of his right, and in disputes about dismissal - within one month from the day he was given a copy of the dismissal order or from the day the work book was issued;
• within one year from the date of the established payment deadline - in case of non-payment or incomplete payment of amounts due to the employee.

In turn, the employer has the right to go to court in disputes about compensation by the employee for damage caused to the employer. He can do this within one year from the date of discovery of the damage caused.

The procedure for applying the limitation period.

The procedure for applying the limitation period is set out in Art. 199 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

According to paragraph 1 of this article, a claim for the protection of a violated right is accepted for consideration by the court regardless of the expiration of the statute of limitations.

In accordance with paragraph 2, the limitation period is applied by the court only upon the application of a party to the dispute made before the court makes a decision. As noted in paragraph 10 of Resolution No. 43, this party bears the burden of proving circumstances indicating the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The expiration of the limitation period is an independent basis for refusal of a claim (paragraph 2, paragraph 2, article 199 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). If it is established that a party to the case has missed the limitation period, then if there is a statement from the appropriate person about the expiration of this period, the court has the right to refuse to satisfy the claim only for the specified reasons, without examining other circumstances of the case. This is stated in paragraph 15 of Resolution No. 43. In other words, missing the statute of limitations does not deprive a citizen or organization of the opportunity to file a claim. The claim will still be accepted for consideration. Moreover, judges, on their own initiative, are not obliged to determine compliance with the said deadline. Only if the defendant during the process declares that the statute of limitations has passed and proves this, the court can refuse to satisfy the plaintiff’s claims. If the defendant does not report missing the deadline, the case will be considered according to the general rules.

For your information:

In paragraph 2 of Art. 199 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation there are no requirements for the form of an application for skipping the limitation period: it can be made both in writing and orally, when preparing a case for trial or directly when considering the case on the merits in a court of first instance or in court the appellate instance, if he proceeded to consider the case according to the rules of proceedings in the court of first instance. If the statement was made orally, this is indicated in the minutes of the court hearing (clause 11 of Resolution No. 43).

Consequences of limitation on a claim

The basis for dismissal of a claim is the expiration of the statute of limitations. Despite the termination of the creditor's rights, the possibility of his protection by force is significantly weakened. The citizen’s demands can be satisfied if the reasons for the absence are recognized as valid and the violated right is restored. As for the fate of property, the statute of limitations for claiming it has expired, there are some rules that take into account their type and the grounds for its removal from the title or ownership of the owner. But the list of this property given in the article is far from complete. This may include interest on the principal debt, lost income, deposit, compensation for damage to the claimed item. The only exception is a bank guarantee, which has independent significance.

Is it possible to reinstate a missed statute of limitations?

In exceptional cases, when the court recognizes a valid reason for missing the statute of limitations due to circumstances related to the personality of the plaintiff (serious illness, helpless state, illiteracy, etc.), the violated right of a citizen is subject to protection. This rule is provided for in Art. 205 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The reasons for missing the limitation period may be considered valid if they occurred in the last six months of the limitation period, and if this period is six months or less than six months, during the limitation period.

In other words, it is possible for individuals to restore the time limit for filing a claim.

Within the meaning of this norm and paragraph 3 of Art. 23 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the limitation period missed by a legal entity on claims related to its business activities cannot be restored, regardless of the reasons for its omission (clause 12 of Resolution No. 43).

Determining the limitation period for a claim

It is time accounting that is one of the main conditions for the effective implementation of civil rights. This factor disciplines subjects of socio-economic relations and contributes to the rationalization of civil legal relations. Indeed, judicial protection of disputed and violated civil rights cannot be of an indefinite nature. And the likelihood of a miscarriage of justice becomes much higher due to the fact that the time gap between the moment of filing a claim and the fact of a legal violation increases significantly, and the collection of evidence that characterizes the case on its merits also becomes more difficult.

Claims that are not subject to statute of limitations.

There are a number of claims to which the statute of limitations does not apply. They are listed in Art. 208 Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

In particular, these are requirements for the protection of personal non-property rights and other intangible benefits, except as provided by law.

By virtue of Art. 150 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, intangible benefits include life and health, personal dignity, personal integrity, honor and good name, business reputation, privacy, inviolability of home, personal and family secrets, freedom of movement, freedom to choose a place of stay and residence, the name of a citizen, authorship, other intangible benefits belonging to a citizen from birth or by force of law. Intangible benefits are protected in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and other laws in the cases and in the manner prescribed by them.

The limitation period also does not apply to claims for compensation for harm caused to the life or health of a citizen. However, claims brought after three years from the moment the right to compensation for this harm arose are satisfied for the past time no more than three years preceding the filing of the claim (except for cases provided for by Federal Law No. 35-FZ).

Beginning of the limitation period.

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 200 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation for obligations with a certain period of performance, the limitation period begins at the end of the performance period.

For obligations for which the deadline for fulfillment is not defined or is determined by the moment of demand, the limitation period begins to run from the day the creditor presents a demand for the fulfillment of the obligation, and if the debtor is given a period for fulfilling such a requirement, the calculation of the limitation period begins at the end of the period provided for the fulfillment of this requirements.

The limitation period in any case cannot exceed ten years from the date the obligation arose.

The course of a period defined by a period of time begins the next day after the calendar date or the occurrence of an event that established its beginning (Article 191 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The period, calculated in years, expires in the corresponding month and day of the last year of the term (clause 1 of Article 192 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). If the last day of the period falls on a non-working day, the end of the period is considered to be the next working day following it (Article 193 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Example 1

Organization “A” provides paid services. In December 2022 it was provided. Payment must be made on December 11, 2017. Organization “B” did not make the payment within the specified period.

The limitation period began to run on December 12, 2017. The expiration of the three-year period will occur on December 12, 2020. However, this date falls on a Saturday, and therefore the expiration date will be the next working day - Monday 12/14/2020.

Within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Art. 200 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the limitation period for a claim arising from a violation by one party of the contract of the condition of payment for goods (work, services) in parts begins in relation to each individual part. The statute of limitations for claims for overdue time payments (interest for the use of borrowed funds, rent, etc.) is calculated separately for each payment (clause 24 of Resolution No. 43).

Example 2

Organization “A” provided RUB 200,000 in December 2022. Payment must be made in two installments of RUB 100,000. 12/11/2017 and 12/18/2017. Organization “B” did not make the payment within the specified time frame.

In this case, the limitation period began for the first part of the debt from December 12, 2017, and for the second – from December 29, 2017.

Criminal liability for battery

According to Art. 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as amended on 07/03/2018 for beatings that caused physical pain to the victim, but did not result in his loss of ability to work, were not committed out of hooligan motives, due to national, racial, religious hatred or enmity, the perpetrator faces one of the following types of punishment:

Now the perpetrator does not face criminal punishment for beating a loved one. He could get away with administrative liability.

After the beating is over, the victim is given a medical report, with which he must contact the police again to initiate a case against the perpetrator. It is best to remove them immediately, but the maximum time for removal is 3 days after the offender commits the crime. Maximum age of criminal responsibility for women? However, there are amendments here. Thus, violence committed against minors, pregnant women or elderly people is an aggravating circumstance. b) for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity towards any social group, - Based on the nature and time of the instructions, they are divided into, years of transactions in the journals of business transactions in account 60 program is also capable of generating initial account summary reports on its own initiative. Whether the batterer will be brought to criminal or administrative liability depends on the degree of harm he caused to another. According to the law, there are 3 types: In the process of determining the punishment and degree of guilt, difficulties may arise associated with the following cases.

Suspension of the limitation period.

Article 202 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of suspending the limitation period. Paragraph 1 of this article lists cases when such a possibility arises:

• if the filing of a claim was prevented by an extraordinary and unavoidable circumstance under the given conditions (force majeure) (clause 1);
• if the plaintiff or defendant is part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, transferred to martial law (clause 2);
• due to the deferment of fulfillment of obligations established on the basis of law by the Government of the Russian Federation (moratorium) (clause 3);
• due to the suspension of the law or other legal act regulating the relevant relationship (clause 4).

In all of the above cases, the running of the limitation period is suspended provided that the specified circumstances arose or continued to exist in the last six months of the limitation period, and if this period is six months or less - during the limitation period (clause 2 of Article 202) . From the date of termination of the circumstance that served as the basis for suspension of the limitation period, its period continues to run. The remaining part of the period is extended to six months, and if the limitation period is six months or less, to the limitation period (clause 4 of article 202).

Interruption of the limitation period.

The running of the limitation period is interrupted by the obligor performing actions indicating recognition of the debt. After the break, the limitation period begins anew; the time elapsed before the break is not counted towards the new term (Article 203 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

At the same time, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation does not specify which specific actions of the obligated person interrupt the course of the period. Their approximate list is given in paragraph 20 of Resolution No. 43. Such actions, in particular, may include:

• recognition of the claim;
• a change in the contract by an authorized person, from which it follows that the debtor acknowledges the existence of a debt, as well as a request from the debtor for such a change in the contract (for example, a deferment or installment plan);
• act of reconciliation of mutual settlements, signed by an authorized person.

Recognition of a part of the debt, including by paying part of it, does not indicate recognition of the debt as a whole, unless otherwise agreed by the debtor.

In cases where the obligation provided for execution in parts or in the form of periodic payments and the debtor took actions indicating recognition of only part of the debt (periodic payment), such actions cannot be the basis for interrupting the limitation period for other parts (payments).

Let us note: as follows from paragraph 21 of Resolution No. 43, a break in the running of the limitation period in connection with the commission of actions indicating recognition of a debt can only take place within the limitation period, and not after its expiration.

How long does a writ of execution last for bailiffs?

In some cases, events unfold as follows:

1. The creditor goes to court and receives a judgment or court order.
2. Next, he transfers it to the bailiffs in order to initiate enforcement proceedings.
3. The bailiff issues a decision to begin proceedings and begins checking the property and financial situation of the debtor.
4. Then he has 2 months to begin collection in favor of the creditor.
5. If within 2 months it is not possible to find property or income, then the writ of execution is returned to the creditor.

Material on the topic:
Search for the debtor's property: when will it be announced and what does it threaten? When the bailiff introduces the procedure for searching for the debtor's property, and when - the debtor himself. What the FSSP will look for from property and by what methods. Responsibility for concealing property.

The bailiff is obliged to close the proceedings if repayment of the debt is impossible - the debtor is poor, does not work, and it is unrealistic to demand compensation from him.

After the return, the calculation of the limitation period for the writ of execution begins. Note that the creditor has the right to resume proceedings six months after receiving the sheet.

But the creditor can return the writ of execution to the bailiff earlier than after 6 months, for example, after 2. However, for this, the claimant must have a good reason to demand that the bailiff resume the case.

For example, the creditor received information that the debtor had entered into inheritance rights, that is, he had property to sell. Or got a good job with a big white salary.

Alas, the bailiff rarely checks the financial condition of the debtor, whom he himself previously recognized as hopeless in terms of collecting the debt from him. Why is this happening? Yes, it’s simple - the bailiff has a lot of things to do at the same time. And you can’t keep track of all the debtors, which is what these debtors take advantage of.

The official period of debt under enforcement proceedings of 3 years is a very shaky basis for waiting for the writing off of court debts. The period for presenting it to the debtor for repayment may expire, but the debt itself will not go away. When is an expired debt written off? Never.

Therefore, it is impossible to determine the time when it will be possible to stop running from the bailiffs and get a job with a good salary. The unclosed debt will be valid and will be located in the FSSP data bank, where anyone can find it using your full name and date of birth.