Because limitation periods are traditionally treated as procedural and governed by the forum, a plaintiff whose claim is time-barred at home may sue elsewhere. Borrowing statutes exist to prevent that.
How they operate. A borrowing statute directs the forum to apply the shorter of its own limitation period and that of the jurisdiction where the claim accrued. Some apply only to claims by non-residents; some apply generally.
Where a claim accrues for this purpose is often defined as where the injury was sustained, or where the plaintiff resides in economic loss cases. That determination is frequently the whole dispute.
Exceptions. Many statutes exempt claims by forum residents, on the reasoning that the state’s own citizens should have the benefit of its period.
Interaction with choice of law clauses. A clause selecting another state’s law may or may not import that state’s limitation period. Drafting should say so expressly, because the default answers differ by forum.
Practical consequence for defendants. The limitations analysis on a multi-state claim requires checking three things: the forum’s period, the accrual state’s period, and the forum’s borrowing statute. Stopping after the first is how a good defence is missed.
For plaintiffs, it means filing in a long-period forum is not by itself a solution, and the accrual analysis should be done before choosing where to sue.