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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, Second Regular Session
limitations of actions; payments; acknowledgments
Purpose
Restarts a statute of limitation on an action for debt from the date of the last payment made toward the debt.
Background
Statute imposes a six-year statute of limitation to collect on a debt (A.R.S. § 12-548). When an action is barred by a time limitation, unless an acknowledgment is in writing and signed by the party to be charged, no acknowledgement of the claim made after the time it becomes due can be admitted in evidence to take the action out of the operation of law (A.R.S. § 12-508).
In the context of
credit-card debt, the Arizona Supreme Court has held that when a
credit-card contract contains an optional acceleration clause, a cause of
action to collect the entire outstanding debt accrues upon default (Mertola,
LLC v. Santos, 244 Ariz. 488, 492 (2018)).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Restarts the limitation period from the date of the last payment made toward a debt when an action for debt has accrued but is not yet barred by the statute of limitation.
2. Stipulates that the statute of limitation beginning from the date of the last payment is applicable to all payments made toward a debt since January 1, 2012.
3. Revives the right to pursue an action that is otherwise barred by limitation only when the party to be charged signs written acknowledgment of the claim.
4. Makes conforming changes.
5. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 4, 2020
JA/kja