Legal Memorandum: Foreign Statute of Repose in NY

Issue: Would New York consider a foreign statute of repose procedural or substantive?

           New York considers statutes of limitations to be procedural.  See Stafford v. International Harvester Co., 668 F.2d 142 (1981).  It is not clear whether a statute of repose is procedural. However, the court in one case found that a two-year prescriptive period was substantive law of Quebec, and thus barred a suit which would have fallen within the three-year statute of limitations for New York.  See Icelandic Airlines, Inc., v. Canadair, Ltd. 104 Misc. 2d 239, 428 N.Y.S.2d 393, 398 (1980).

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