Which of the following is listed as an affirmative defense in the NY answer or pre-answer MTD?

• A. Arbitration award
• B. Statutory limitations
• C. Release
• D. Infancy of defendant

Answer: (B)

Statute of limitations is an affirmative defense that can be raised at the answer stage or in a pre-answer motion to dismiss in New York. It asserts that the plaintiff waited too long to sue, so the claim is time-barred regardless of the merits. Because timing is decided independently of the underlying facts, it qualifies as an affirmative defense you can plead in the answer or trigger via a pre-answer dismissal motion.

The other options involve defenses that are not the typical, expressly recognized affirmative defenses raised in the answer or pre-answer MTD in the same sense. Arbitration issues, releases, and infancy may arise in various contexts, but they’re not the standard time-bar defenses that courts routinely treat as pre-answer/affirmative defenses for dismissal based on a statute of limitations.