Section 11.21 Statutes of Limitation and Statutes of Repose

• Library: Construction Law 2016 Supp

D. (§11.21) Statutes of Limitation and Statutes of Repose

Statutes of limitation are different than statutes of repose. Statutes of limitation normally govern the time within which legal proceedings must be commenced after the cause of action accrues. See §§ 516.098–516.120, RSMo 2000. An action usually accrues when damage from an act is sustained and is ascertainable. Section 516.100, RSMo 2000. Statutes of repose limit the time within which an action may be brought and are not related to the accrual of a cause of action. The injury does not need to have occurred, much less have been discovered. Missouri’s statute of repose may be found at § 516.097, RSMo Supp. 2003, and provides that an action must be commenced within ten years after the date improvements to real property are completed. But if an occupancy permit is issued, the ten-year period commences on the date the permit is issued. Id.

Construction contracts often have an accrual clause that triggers the statute of limitation at some point in time earlier than the discovery of damages. These clauses are generally enforceable. The trigger date is normally the date of substantial completion or the date...