§ 102 Statutory bar absolute - Exception.

If you wait too long to bring a legal claim and the deadline set by law has passed, you lose the right to use that claim entirely. This means you cannot file a lawsuit based on it, and you also cannot use it to defend yourself in a case someone else brings against you.

There is one exception to this rule. Even if a claim is too old to bring on its own, you may still be able to use it as a counterclaim or setoff. This means if someone sues you, you might still be able to use that old claim to reduce or cancel out what you owe them, even though you could not have sued them over it separately.

In short, missing a legal deadline shuts most doors, but it does not always stop you from using an old claim to offset a case that someone else has already started against you.