On June 30, 2023, Justice Chan of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Murphy v. PHG Funding LLC, 2023 NY Slip Op. 32222(U), holding that the Consumer Credit Fairness Act’s reduction in the limitations period for breach of contract claims against consumers is not retroactive, explaining:
In general, an action upon a contractual obligation or liability, express or implied-such as a promissory note-must be commenced within six years. Here, however, Defendants contend that this action involves a consumer credit transaction and is therefore covered by the CCFA and CPLR 214-i’s corresponding three-year statute of limitations. The court disagrees. At the outset, the amended statute of limitations promulgated by the CCFA did not go into effect until April 7, 2022. Plaintiff, conversely,
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).
commenced this lawsuit on October 26, 2021, i.e., prior to the Governor signing the CCFA into law on November 8, 2021, and well before the April 7, 2022, effective date. To be sure, the CCFA did shorten the statute of limitations from six years to three years for actions arising out of consumer credit transactions filed on or after April 7, 2022. Yet Defendants make no showing (prima facie or otherwise) supporting a conclusion that the New York Legislature intended this new three year statute of limitations to also apply retroactively to lawsuits already commenced before April 7, 2022. To the extent Defendants claim that the formal complaint filed on July 26, 2022, shoehorned this action within the CCFA’s ambit, that argument should be rejected out of hand. Denial of a motion for summary judgment in lieu of complaint raises no statute of limitations issues if the matter is converted to a conventional action and summons was timely filed. And that is exactly what happened here.