the legal doctrine that a legal right or claim will not be enforced or allowed if
a long delay in asserting the right or claim has prejudiced the adverse party (hurt
the opponent) as a sort of "legal ambush. " Examples a) knowing the correct property
line, Oliver Owner fails to bring a lawsuit to establish title to a portion of real
estate until Nat Neighbor has built a house which encroaches on the property in
which Owner has title; b) Tommy Traveler learns that his father has died, but waits
four years to come forward until the entire estate has been distributed on the belief
that Tommy was dead; c) Susan Smart has a legitimate claim against her old firm
for sexual harassment, but waits three years to come forward and file a lawsuit,
after the employee who caused the problem has died, and the witnesses have all left
the company and scattered around the country. The defense of laches is often raised
in the list of "affirmative defenses" in answers filed by defendants, but is seldom
applied by the courts. Laches is not to be confused with the "statute of limitations,"
which sets specific periods to file a lawsuit for types of claims (negligence, breach
of contract, fraud, etc. ).
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