Time Is On The State's Side

I am regretting that I didn’t study Latin in high school. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in State v. Lombardo Bros. Mason Contractors Inc., et al., 307 Conn. 106 (2012). Lombardo concerned a suit by the state, brought long after the statute of limitations had run, to recover the $15 million that the state spent fixing the shamefully shoddy construction of the University of Connecticut School of Law library. Even though the state was inexplicably late to the dance, the Court allowed its suit to proceed under the doctrine of nullum tempus occruitt regi — which, near as I can figure, means “the State owns a time machine”.

To be accurate (and to mollify my parents, who did study Latin in school), nullum tempus occruitt regi actually means “no time runs against the king,” i.e., that the state, as part and parcel of its sovereign immunity, also is immune from statutes of limitation and repose. But for any entity that does business with, or is regulated by, the state, the most accurate translation probably is “save your receipts.” Because with nullum tempus(aurus) roaming the land, you never know when the state might send a marshal to your door and haul you into court.