Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York
I had a car repossessed in 2008-2009. I have recently been contacted by a collection company who bought the debt about payment or garnishment. Is this debt still collectable or has the statute of limitations expired? No payments have been made since the repo.
1 Answer from Attorneys
There is not sufficient information provided to allow a proper answer. Normally there is a 6 year statute of limitations on contracts. Your fact summary does not provide information that would allow a determination to be made whether or not the statute ran (which by date it APPEARS to) or if other factors TOLLED the statute for an indeterminate amount of time. If the transaction took place in NY and the contract's choice of law is in NY and the statute was NOT tolled, it would APPEAR the statute of limitations ran out in 2015. That does NOT mean you cannot be sued. If you are sued make sure you put in a defense that the statute of limitations has run. If you fail to include the defense in your Answer it MAY be considered waived.