Generally there is no specific statute of limitations that directly applies to SIBTF cases. However, the Court created the Tallcut Rule in SIF vs. Tallcut (1970):
If SIF application is filed after five years from the Subsequent Industrial Injury, “[h]is claim for those benefits will not be barred so long as an application for those benefits is filed within reasonable time after the applicant ‘learns from the board’s findings on the issue of permanent disability that the fun has probable liability” Tallcut at 87.
As such SIBTF application must be filed within a reasonable time after an applicant knows or reasonably should have known that there is a substantial likelihood that he or she has a claim for such benefits. If the SIBTF claim is filed within the five year period under Labor Code Section 5410, it is timely filed (although the five year limitation period described in section 5410 does not apply to claims for SIBTF benefits).