Accrual

A claim accrues when all the pieces needed to sue are in place, such as a wrongful act, an injury, and a connection between the two. The exact accrual date matters because it usually starts the statute of limitations countdown. For some claims, accrual happens at the moment of the wrongful act, while for others it happens only when the harm shows up or is discovered. Different states and different kinds of claims use different accrual rules. Pinning down the accrual date is often the first step in deciding whether a lawsuit is timely.