Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Sounds as though this would be a civil action based on fraud, so the applicable statute of limitations would be Code of Civil Procedure section 338(d). The limitations period is three (3) years, BUT the three-year period doesn't begin until the prospective plaintiff discovers the facts constituting the fraud. If you are the prospective plaintiff and you indeed just discovered the facts, the defendant almost certainly would not be able to plead the statute of limitations with success. However, courts sometimes rule that, although the plaintiff claims he just discovered the fraud, he will be held to have discovered the facts long ago, because they were (for example) there in the "black-and-white" of documents the plaintiff read and signed. So, reliance upon a statute of frauds is not a certain defense in all cases.