An acknowledging officer is legally bound not to execute any false certificate of acknowledgment.  If an acknowledging officer executes a false certificate of acknowledgment, action can be brought against such offficer for breach of statutory duty.

The legislature generally provides a limitation for every kind of action that can be brought in courts.  Therefore, any action to be legally maintainable should be brought within the period prescribed by the applicable statute of limitation.

For the purpose of statute of limitation, a cause of action against an acknowledging officer who has executed false certificate of acknowledgment accrues on the date of making of the certificate.  It is the date of making of the certificate and not the time of discovery of the falsity of the certificate that is considered for calculating the statutory period of limitation.

The purpose of the statute of limitation is to encourage diligence in bringing claims.  But when a person so protected resorts to fraud to hide the very existence of a claim against him/her, there is no lack of diligence on the part of the aggrieved person.  Hence, if making of the certificate is fraudulently concealed by the acknowledging officer, the cause of action accrues only when the person aggrieved discovers the fraud or is reasonably expected to have discovered the fraud.  This is to prevent a person from using the provisions of the statute of limitation to protect him/her from the liability arising out of his/her own fault.