InfoBytes Blog
New York restores Martin Act’s six-year statute of limitations
On August 26, the New York governor signed S 6536, which returns the statute of limitations within which the state’s attorney general must bring financial fraud claims under the Martin Act to six years. As previously covered by InfoBytes, in 2018 the New York Court of Appeals issued a ruling that claims brought under the Martin Act are governed by a statute of limitations of three years, not six. According to the majority in that court decision, the three-year period applied because the Martin Act “expands upon, rather than codifies, the common law of fraud” and “imposes numerous obligations—or ‘liabilities’—that did not exist at common law,” which justified the imposition of a three-year statute of limitations. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo noted that “[b]y restoring the six-year statute of limitations under the Martin Act, we are enhancing one of the state’s most powerful tools to prosecute financial fraud so we can hold more bad actors accountable, protect investors and achieve a fairer New York for all.” Effective immediately, S 6536 will amend Section 213 of the state’s Civil Practice Law and Rules to include Martin Act cases among those that must be brought within six years.