When must a Texas trade-secret misappropriation suit be brought?

Identify the actual misappropriation claim and verify section 16.010 governs it.

Establish actual discovery and when reasonable diligence should have produced discovery. Do not choose the later event merely because it is convenient.

Treat continuing misappropriation as one cause. Preserve the discovery evidence and review any applicable suspension separately.

1. Identify the actual misappropriation claim and verify section 16.010 governs it.
2. Establish that the scoped statutory branch governs and that no suspension or different limitation applies.
3. Add 3 calendar years to the verified event.
4. Check the final day, actual county opening and applicable filing boundary.

A statutory year is twelve consecutive months under Government Code 311.005(12). Section 311.014(c) uses the corresponding numerical day in the concluding month, or that month’s last day if no corresponding day exists. Count calendar years, not 365 days per year. Establish the statutory event before using its anniversary.

CPRC 16.072 extends its statutory suit-filing period when the final day is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday to the next day county offices are open for business. Rule 4 and Government Code 311.014 also address final weekends and legal holidays. The calculator applies the encoded Texas calendar for 2026 through 2028. Establish the actual county calendar, governing holiday treatment and any additional closure separately. A state employee’s optional day off does not itself establish a court closure.

Fictitious example

Fictitious facts. Actual discovery of the misappropriation or when reasonable diligence should have discovered it, independently established is independently established as July 6, 2024. This ordinary branch governs. No suspension, extension, competing limitation or protected governmental right applies.

Fictitious dates. The event and statutory branch are independently established. No suspension, competing limitation or additional closure applies. For the separate weekend fixture, county offices are expressly assumed open July 12, 2027. This is not a verified calendar for every county.

Constructive discovery

Subsection (a) includes discovery that reasonable diligence should have produced. The tool does not decide diligence or whether the claimant should have discovered the misappropriation sooner.

Continuing cause

Subsection (b) treats continuing misappropriation as a single cause and starts the limitation without regard to whether the misappropriation is single or continuing. Do not restart it automatically at each act.

Disability when the cause accrues

Section 16.001 excludes the time of a qualifying minority or unsound-mind disability existing at accrual. A later disability does not suspend the clock, and disabilities cannot be tacked. This calculator assumes no qualifying disability and does not classify the facts.

Death during an existing clock

Section 16.062 can suspend an existing limitation for up to twelve months, with an earlier restart when an executor or administrator qualifies. A death date alone does not supply the claim’s remaining time.

Absence from Texas

Section 16.063 states a suspension during the absence of the person against whom the cause may be maintained. This calculator assumes no applicable suspension. The statutory text alone does not settle judicial restrictions or constitutional application to a particular defendant.

Prior action dismissed for lack of jurisdiction

Section 16.064 conditionally suspends limitations between filings when the same action is commenced in a proper court within sixty days after final disposition. Intentional disregard of jurisdiction is excluded. The calculator does not determine that suspension.

• The calculator does not decide accrual, constructive discovery, claim classification or a disputed suspension.
• A request for more time is not a statutory extension. Rule 5 concerns its stated rule, notice or order periods; it does not establish general relief from a statute of limitations.
• Rule 21(f)(6) permits seeking appropriate relief after a technical failure. Its required reasonable extension concerns deadlines imposed by the rules. Do not assume it automatically revives this statutory limitation.

• Identify the actual misappropriation claim and verify section 16.010 governs it.
• Establish actual discovery and when reasonable diligence should have produced discovery. Do not choose the later event merely because it is convenient.
• Treat continuing misappropriation as one cause. Preserve the discovery evidence and review any applicable suspension separately.
• Subsection (a) includes discovery that reasonable diligence should have produced. The tool does not decide diligence or whether the claimant should have discovered the misappropriation sooner.
• Subsection (b) treats continuing misappropriation as a single cause and starts the limitation without regard to whether the misappropriation is single or continuing. Do not restart it automatically at each act.
• Section 16.001 excludes the time of a qualifying minority or unsound-mind disability existing at accrual. A later disability does not suspend the clock, and disabilities cannot be tacked. This calculator assumes no qualifying disability and does not classify the facts.
• Section 16.062 can suspend an existing limitation for up to twelve months, with an earlier restart when an executor or administrator qualifies. A death date alone does not supply the claim’s remaining time.
• Section 16.063 states a suspension during the absence of the person against whom the cause may be maintained. This calculator assumes no applicable suspension. The statutory text alone does not settle judicial restrictions or constitutional application to a particular defendant.
• Section 16.064 conditionally suspends limitations between filings when the same action is commenced in a proper court within sixty days after final disposition. Intentional disregard of jurisdiction is excluded. The calculator does not determine that suspension.
• For district or county court, Rule 22 commences suit by filing a petition with the clerk. Under Rule 21(f)(5), ordinary electronic filing must occur before midnight in the court’s time zone unless a particular time controls. Transmission to the electronic filing service provider is the filing event, subject to the rule’s holiday and leave-order conditions. Keep the transmission receipt and verify the proper court. This calculator does not establish service diligence, a paper filing cutoff, justice-court requirements or federal filing rules.