§ 5.4.5 Statute of Limitations as a Defense.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 5.4.5 Statute of Limitations as a Defense. Because Arizona has no statute of limitations expressly applicable to declaratory judgment actions, the appropriate limitations period is determined by “examining the substance of [the] action to identify the relationship out of which the claim arises and the relief sought.” Vales v. Kings Hill Condominium Ass’n, 211 Ariz. 561, 566, ¶ 17, 125 P.3d 381, 386 (Ct. App. 2005) . Declaratory judgment claims filed within the relevant analogous limitations period are treated as timely. See La Canada Hills Ltd. Partnership v. Kite, 217 Ariz. 126, 129, ¶ 9, 171 P.3d 195, 198 (Ct. App. 2007) Canyon Del Rio, LLC v. City of Flagstaff, 227 Ariz. at 341, ¶ 20, 258 P.3d at 159 . In that case, the Court of Appeals held “a claim for declaratory judgment concerning a zoning ordinance cannot be time-barred if it is brought before a related damage action accrues or within the applicable statutory period after it does.” Id. at ¶ 22. Commenting on the issue of the application of statutes of limitation to declaratory judgment actions, the court of appeals in Rogers v. Board of Regents of the University of Arizona, 233 Ariz. 262, 267-68, ¶ 17, 311 P.3d 1075, 1080-81 (Ct. App. 2013) , recognized that “[t]he ‘question of whether and when statutes of limitations are applicable to declaratory relief actions is a less than clear area of the law’ and the fact that a justiciable controversy exists does not, per se, constitute an accrual of an action for statute of limitations purposes.” It held that a declaratory judgment against the state university to establish an easement by implication was subject to the limitation period for claims against the state demarcated in A.R.S. § 12-821 , and that the claim accrued when affirmative conduct by a party removes the claim from...