Sometimes a debtor will string along their creditor on account or on a promissory note, beyond the time when the six year statute of limitations on a written contract expires. Does the creditor then have any chance of remedy?
The Defense of the Statute of Limitations Can Be Lost
The Statute of Limitations creates a defense to an action. It does not erase the debt. Hence, the defense can be lost by an unequivocal acknowledgment of the debt, such as a new promise, an unqualified recognition of the debt, or a payment on account. Whether partial payment constitutes unequivocal acknowledgment of the whole debt from which an unconditional promise to pay can be implied thereby tolling the statute of limitations is a question for the trier of fact. See Cadle Co. v. Errato, 71 Conn. App. 447 (2002).
Silence Admits Defeat of the Defense
A general acknowledgment of a debt may be inferred from acquiescence as well as from silence, as where the existence of the debt has been asserted in the debtor’s presence and he did not contradict the assertion. See Potter v. Prudential Ins. Co., 108 Conn. 271, 281 (1928).
