What is the time limit for an unjust enrichment claim?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

In Catalonia it is ten years, which is the general time limit under the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, for claims that have no specific one. In most of the rest of Spain it is five, which is the time limit under the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”) for personal actions without a specific time limit and the one explained in the publication. The time limit starts when the claimant knows, or could reasonably know, what happened and the person against whom the claim must be brought. If there are criminal proceedings over the same facts, the time limit generally does not run while they last and starts again once the decision ending them becomes final. Ten years in Catalonia and five in the rest of Spain The Catalan Civil Code sets ten years for any claim that has no specific time limit. The short time limits, of three years, are for specific cases, such as periodic payments or damage caused outside a contract. Unjust enrichment is not one of them and the “Audiencia Provincial” of Barcelona, the provincial appeal court, applies the ten-year period to it. This time limit applies when the relationship between the parties is governed by Catalan law, which is normally the case if everything happened in Catalonia between people who live here. The publication explains the time limit under the Spanish Civil Code, which is the one that applies in most of the rest of Spain. It is five years for personal actions that have no specific time limit. In the case it discusses, fifteen years were applied, the period that the Spanish Civil Code laid down before the 2015 reform. It is advisable not to choose the wrong action, because each one has its own time limit. If what actually happened was damage caused outside a contract, in Catalonia there are three years, not ten. When it starts to run and when it starts again The Catalan code counts the time limit from when the claimant knows, or could reasonably know, the facts on which the claim is based and the person against whom it must be brought. The publication makes this more specific for the Spanish Civil Code. The claimant must have been able to know of the other person's enrichment, their own impoverishment and the lack of any legal ground. Doubts about when the period started should not be resolved against the claimant. In Catalonia the time limit starts again in full with any of the following: A written claim, such as a “burofax” (a certified letter with proof of content). A claim filed in court, even if the judge rejects it for a procedural defect, or the start of arbitration. The other person acknowledging the claimant's right. If negotiations are under way, it is advisable to put the claim on record in writing before the time limit expires. If there were criminal proceedings first This is the question on which the publication focuses. While criminal proceedings over the same facts are under way, the civil claim cannot go ahead separately. That is why the time limit does not run while they last and starts again once the decision ending them becomes final, whether it is a judgment of conviction or acquittal or a decision to close the case. The parties do not need to be the same in both sets of proceedings. It is enough that the facts are substantially the same and that what the criminal court decides may influence the civil matter. In the case it discusses, a company had contributed a plot of land that was not its own to a “junta de compensación”, the body formed by the landowners in an area to develop it. The owner filed a private criminal complaint (“querella”) for fraud against the director, who was acquitted. The owner then sued the shareholders of the company, which had by then been dissolved, for unjust enrichment. The publication explains that the owner's claim had not become time-barred, because the time limit had started again when the criminal judgment became final. It also warns that going down the criminal route has to be justified and that, while it lasts, the civil claim is put on hold. In principle, the same applies in Catalonia with the ten-year time limit. But the Catalan code has no specific rule on criminal proceedings and, for the time limit to start again, it requires the claim to be directed against the person who has to answer for it. If you did not take part in the criminal proceedings, or they were not brought against the person you want to claim from, the prudent course is to claim from that person in writing without waiting for the proceedings to end.