18 U.S.C. § 2335
Section 2335 · Limitation of actions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case 762 F. Supp. 2d 18 - Wultz v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2011)
Most recently applied in In re Chiquita Brands Int'l, Inc. (January 2018)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) In General.—Subject to subsection (b), a suit for recovery of damages under section 2333 of this title shall not be maintained unless commenced within 10 years after the date the cause of action accrued.
(b) Calculation of Period.—The time of the absence of the defendant from the United States or from any jurisdiction in which the same or a similar action arising from the same facts may be maintained by the plaintiff, or of any concealment of the defendant's whereabouts, shall not be included in the 10-year period set forth in subsection (a).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2013—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 112–239, §1251(a)(1), substituted “10 years” for “4 years”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 112–239, §1251(a)(2), substituted “10-year period” for “4-year period”.
Effective Date of 2013 Amendment
Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title XII, §1251(b), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 2017, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to any civil action arising under section 2333 of title 18, United States Code, that is pending on, or commenced on or after, the date of the enactment of this Act [Jan. 2, 2013].”
Effective Date
Section applicable to any pending case or any cause of action arising on or after 4 years before Oct. 29, 1992, see section 1003(c) of Pub. L. 102–572, set out as a note under section 2331 of this title.