California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Jones v. Wilson, B277392 (Cal. App. 2017):
Plaintiff brought a cause of action for declaratory relief, seeking to state her rights under the lease option contract. (See Code of Civil Procedure section 1060 ["Any person interested . . . under a contract, or who desires a declaration of his or her rights or duties with respect to another, or in respect to, in, over or upon property . . . may, in cases of actual controversy relating to the legal rights and duties of the respective parties, bring an original action . . . in the superior court for a declaration of his or her rights and duties in the premises, including a determination of any question of construction or validity arising under the . . . contract. . . . The declaration may be had before there has been any breach of the obligation in respect to which said declaration is sought."]; Ginsberg v. Gamson (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 873, 883 ["A party may seek declaratory relief before there has been an actual breach of an obligation; in such cases the limitations period still does not begin to run until the breach occurs."].)
"The limitations period for declaratory relief claims depends on 'the right or obligation sought to be enforced' and the statute of limitations 'generally follows its application to actions for damages or injunction on the same rights and obligations.' [Citation.]" (Ginsberg v. Gamson, supra, 205 Cal.App.4th at p. 883.) The four-year statute of limitations for claims of breach of written contract in Code of Civil Procedure section 337, subdivision 1 thus applies to plaintiff's declaratory relief claim.
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