Tolled SoL for a plaintiff’s infancy: which statement is correct?

Tolled SoL for a plaintiff’s infancy: which statement is correct?

• A. For 3+ SoL, toll is always the longer of 3 years or remaining SoL
• B. For 3 SoL, toll equals the remaining SoL
• C. The toll ends when the plaintiff turns 18
• D. For 3+ SoL, the toll is the longer of 3 years or remaining SoL; for 3 SoL, toll the whole SoL; medical malpractice tolling is capped at 10 years

Answer: (D)

Infancy tolling pauses the running of the statute of limitations while the plaintiff is a minor and only resumes when the plaintiff reaches the age of majority. Once that happens, the amount of extra time you get to sue depends on how long the original limitations period would have been. If the applicable period is longer than three years, the toll after reaching adulthood is the longer of three years or the remaining time on the original deadline. This means if there’s a substantial portion of the original deadline left at the moment the plaintiff becomes an adult, you effectively get that remaining time; if only a small amount remains, you still get at least three years after turning 18. If the applicable period is exactly three years, you toll the entire remaining period after majority, so you’re granted the full three years post-18 to sue. Medical malpractice claims have an additional rule: tolling cannot push the deadline beyond ten years from the event, so there’s a cap on how much extra time infancy tolling can provide in those cases. For example, if a claim has six years of SoL and the injury occurs when the plaintiff is ten, the deadline would have been at age sixteen. The plaintiff becomes an adult at eighteen; since there’s little or no remaining time on the original deadline, the toll would be at least three years, so the suit must be filed by age twenty-one. If the original deadline left more time at eighteen, you’d take the longer of three years or that remaining time. And if the claim were medical malpractice, you’d also apply the ten-year cap on tolling.

Infancy tolling pauses the running of the statute of limitations while the plaintiff is a minor and only resumes when the plaintiff reaches the age of majority. Once that happens, the amount of extra time you get to sue depends on how long the original limitations period would have been.

If the applicable period is longer than three years, the toll after reaching adulthood is the longer of three years or the remaining time on the original deadline. This means if there’s a substantial portion of the original deadline left at the moment the plaintiff becomes an adult, you effectively get that remaining time; if only a small amount remains, you still get at least three years after turning 18.

If the applicable period is exactly three years, you toll the entire remaining period after majority, so you’re granted the full three years post-18 to sue.

Medical malpractice claims have an additional rule: tolling cannot push the deadline beyond ten years from the event, so there’s a cap on how much extra time infancy tolling can provide in those cases.

For example, if a claim has six years of SoL and the injury occurs when the plaintiff is ten, the deadline would have been at age sixteen. The plaintiff becomes an adult at eighteen; since there’s little or no remaining time on the original deadline, the toll would be at least three years, so the suit must be filed by age twenty-one. If the original deadline left more time at eighteen, you’d take the longer of three years or that remaining time. And if the claim were medical malpractice, you’d also apply the ten-year cap on tolling.