“The purpose of a statute of limitations is to require diligent prosecution of known claims, providing finality and predictability in legal affairs and assuring that claims will be resolved while evidence is reasonably available and fresh. Statutes of limitations protect potential defendants from the burden of having to respond to stale claims and set old controversies at rest by foreclosing consideration of the merits of the underlying claims. Statutes of limitation are based in part on a presumption that a person with a legitimate claim will not delay excessively in enforcing it. A successful statute of limitations defense terminates the controversy in more ways than one because the judgment does not satisfy the favorable termination element of a malicious prosecution action.”
[California Affirmative Defenses [certain citations omitted]]
