Act Now to Avoid Laches Ruining Your Claim

There’s an old saying that goes “use it or lose it.” And while clichés may not be great life advice, in this case, it may be pretty good legal advice.

There is a legal doctrine, specifically, a defense to a lawsuit or claim, called laches. Laches says that if you have a claim, or the chance to make a claim against somebody, but you wait too long, you could lose the chance to make that claim.

Laches is essentially saying “it’s not fair to me that you waited so long to sue me, or make this claim against me, and I’m unable to defend myself against the claim because you waited so long.”

Laches and the Statute of Limitations

This is different from the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is a hard time deadline, after which you are barred from making a claim in court. But laches can be asserted as a defense in a claim, even if the claim or lawsuit is being brought within the allowable statute of limitations.

When Laches Applies

So when can it be legally allowable to file a lawsuit, but just be unfair to do so, under the doctrine of laches?

Laches is an equitable defense—that means whenever a defendant feels that a delay in making a claim is unfair, he can claim laches. There is no single, exhaustive list of when laches can or cannot be used as a defense.

Imagine a scenario where necessary evidence is gone and destroyed accidentally. Or where witnesses have disappeared or even died. Or where the Defendant’s situation personally or professionally is just so different now that they cannot mount a defense whereas they could have done so, had the claim been more timely made.

Example of Laches

Imagine that a builder constructs an office building for the building’s owner. There are construction defects immediately apparent, but the owner still takes the property, occupies it, and says nothing until years later.

Now, the builder’s original plans for the building are gone, employees who communicated about the project before it was built are all working elsewhere, and the building itself has been occupied and used all these years, thus making it impossible to tell whether defects in the building were from the original construction, or from something that happened after it was built.

In this scenario, the builder could claim laches as a defense to the construction defect claim, saying that the passage of time has prejudiced his or her ability to defend the claim.

Act Quickly

It’s relatively easy to avoid laches—if you have a potential claim or lawsuit, see an attorney as quickly as possible. Even if you don’t rush to file a lawsuit, simply informing the other side that there is a possible lawsuit as soon as you know, can avoid the defense of laches from being asserted.

Acting quickly now can avoid legal problems later on. Let the West Palm Beach commercial litigation attorneys at Pike & Lustig help you with your lawsuit or claim.

Source:

nycourts.gov/legacyPDFs/courts/nyc/housing/pdfs/laches.pdf