How is tolling defined for plaintiffs who are minors?

How is tolling defined for plaintiffs who are minors?

• A. The tolling is the shorter of 3 years or remaining SoL.
• B. The tolling is the longer of 3 years or remaining SoL.
• C. There is no tolling for infancy.
• D. Med mal tolling caps at 10 years.

Answer: (B)

Infancy tolling pauses the statute of limitations while the plaintiff is under 18, and after reaching majority you don’t just start the clock where you left off. The time you have left to sue is the longer of three years or the remaining portion of the original statute of limitations. This keeps a meaningful window after adulthood, so a minor isn’t punished for having been a minor when the injury occurred. For example, if the claim’s statute of limitations is ten years and the injury occurs when the plaintiff is ten, the clock would not run until majority. At age 18, the remaining time on the ten-year limit is two years (ten minus eight years elapsed). The rule uses the longer of two years or three years, so you get three years from age 18 to sue (by age 21). If instead the remaining time at majority were seven years, you’d have seven years to sue after turning 18. The other options don’t fit because they either shorten the window after majority, deny tolling, or apply a different rule specific to medical malpractice rather than infancy tolling.

Infancy tolling pauses the statute of limitations while the plaintiff is under 18, and after reaching majority you don’t just start the clock where you left off. The time you have left to sue is the longer of three years or the remaining portion of the original statute of limitations. This keeps a meaningful window after adulthood, so a minor isn’t punished for having been a minor when the injury occurred.

For example, if the claim’s statute of limitations is ten years and the injury occurs when the plaintiff is ten, the clock would not run until majority. At age 18, the remaining time on the ten-year limit is two years (ten minus eight years elapsed). The rule uses the longer of two years or three years, so you get three years from age 18 to sue (by age 21). If instead the remaining time at majority were seven years, you’d have seven years to sue after turning 18.

The other options don’t fit because they either shorten the window after majority, deny tolling, or apply a different rule specific to medical malpractice rather than infancy tolling.