Tolling Agreement
(Statute of Repose) (NC)

Summary

This tolling agreement may be used to toll a statute of repose applicable to existing claims for a North Carolina state court civil action. This template includes practical guidance, drafting notes, and an alternate clause. The purpose of a tolling agreement is to stop the clock on a plaintiff's deadline to bring a lawsuit. A tolling agreement extends the filing deadline and allows parties to negotiate and possibly resolve their dispute without litigation. Statutes of repose set an absolute time limit on the liability of those within their protection and abolish a plaintiff's cause of action thereafter. See, e.g., N.C. Gen. Stat. § 39-23.9. In contrast to statutes of limitation, which begin to run on the date the claim accrues, statutes of repose begin to run on the date of the act or omission that caused the injury. The injury need not have occurred. See id. North Carolina courts have explicitly stated that a statute of repose may be tolled by agreement. See Christie v. Hartley Constr., Inc., 367 N.C. 534, 540 (2014); Charlotte Motor Speedway, Inc. v. Tindall Corp., 195 N.C. App. 296, 302 (2009). For more information on deadlines in litigation, see Computing and Extending Time in Litigation (NC). For a related checklist, see Computing and Extending Time in Litigation Checklist (NC). If you need to toll a statute of limitations rather than a statute of repose, see Tolling Agreement (Statute of Limitations) (NC).