Okla. Stat. tit. 12A § 2A-506

Current through Laws 2024, c. 453.

Section 2A-506 - Statute of limitations

(1) An action for default under a lease contract, including breach of warranty or indemnity, must be commenced within four (4) years after the cause of action accrued. By the original lease contract the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than one (1) year.

(2) A cause of action for default accrues when the act or omission on which the default or breach of warranty is based is or should have been discovered by the aggrieved party, or when the default occurs, whichever is later. A cause of action for indemnity accrues when the act or omission on which the claim for indemnity is based is or should have been discovered by the indemnified party, whichever is later.

(3) If an action commenced within the time limited by subsection (1) of this section is so terminated as to leave available a remedy by another action for the same default or breach of warranty or indemnity, the other action may be commenced after the expiration of the time limited and within six (6) months after the termination of the first action unless the termination resulted from voluntary discontinuance or from dismissal for failure or neglect to prosecute.

(4) This section does not alter the law on tolling of the statute of limitations nor does it apply to causes of action that have accrued before this article becomes effective.

Okla. Stat. tit. 12A, § 2A-506

Added by Laws 1988, HB 1683, c. 86, § 53, eff. 11/1/1988.

Oklahoma Code Comment

This section differs substantially from its counterpart for sales in 12A Oklahoma Statutes § 2-725 and from the present controlling provision for leases in 12 Oklahoma Statutes § 95 as to period. Section 2A-506(1) reduces the limitations period to four years from the five year (non-uniform) period provided in 12A Oklahoma Statutes § 2-725(1). In part this is because the limitation period under § 2A-506(2) only begins to run from the later of the time of the default, which is at tender of delivery in the case of breach of warranty except where the warranty is prospective, or when the default (which includes breach of warranty) is or should have been discovered. The rule in 12A Oklahoma Statutes § 2-725(2) is the limitation period runs from the time of the breach which also is at tender of delivery in the case of breach of warranty except where the warranty is prospective. In accord with cases decided under the Article 2 statute of limitations, this section should displace for leases 12 Oklahoma Statutes § 95 and 15 Oklahoma Statutes § 216. See Sesow v. Swearingen, 552 P.2d 705 (Okla.1976) and Cochran v. Buddy Spencer Mobile Homes, Inc., 618 P.2d 947 (Okla.App.1980).

It does not appear appropriate to consider the provision in subsection (1) that states the parties by agreement may reduce the limitation period to not less than a year, as a limitation separate from the warranty in the case of an express warranty. If it were so considered, no express warranty for less than one year would be possible. On the other hand, for limited warranty, which is imposed by statute and thus has the period of § 2A-506 incorporated, the statutory period may be reduced by a clause of the agreement from four years to one or more, but presumably the point from which the period runs may not be altered. Any such clause in a consumer lease may be subject to the limitation contained in § 108 ( 15 U.S.C. § 2308 ) of the Magnuson-Moss Act to the extent that statute is applicable. See C. Reitz, Consumer Product Warranties under Federal and State Laws § 13.04 (2d ed. 1987). Such a clause also is subject to the unconscionability rule of § 2A-108 so that if the clause is unfairly surprising due to being buried in fine print or being written in legalese it may be open to attack.

The 1991 amendments make no change here.