Overview
In a ruling today, Judge Englemayer found that Themis Capital and Des Moines Investments’ attempt to collect long-owed debt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the “DRC”) and the Bank of the DRC is not barred by New York’s six-year statute of limitations. Themis and Des Moines are successors-in-interest to creditors of the debt that the DRC restructured in 1980 that has been in default since 1990. Normally, their suit would be time-barred by New York’s six-year statute of limitations on breach-of-contract claims. However, Judge Engelmayer ruled that a series of debt acknowledgment letters signed by officials of the DRC and Bank in 1991, 1997, and again in 2003, tolled the statute of limitations, making this lawsuit, brought in 2009, timely.