Title: Brent v. Town of Greeneville
Citation: 309 S.W.2d 121
Docket Number: N/A
State: Tennessee
Issuer: Tennessee Supreme Court
Date: December 6, 1957

309 S.W.2d 121 (1957) Chester A. BRENT, Jr., et al. v. The TOWN OF GREENEVILLE et al. Supreme Court of Tennessee. December 6, 1957. Rehearing Denied February 6, 1958. William S. Todd and John R. Todd, Kingsport, for appellants. Walter A. Curtis, Jr., Greeneville, for appellees. PREWITT, Justice. The complainants filed their bill seeking a declaratory judgment as to the effect of an ordinance passed by the Town of Greeneville, whereby certain territory was annexed to the Town, under authority of Chapter 113, Public Acts, 1955, now T.C.A. Sections 6-308, 6-319. The defendants have appealed from a decision of the Chancellor overruling their demurrer to the bill. There is only one question involved in this proceeding and that is to decide whether or not T.C.A. Section 28-106, gives the defendants the right to commence a new action to test the validity of the ordinance in question, within one year from the date of their voluntary non-suit in the Circuit Court proceedings. The complainants contend that the right being exercised by the defendants was created by statute and the time in which the right could be exercised was limited by the same statute, that time was the essence and the Section above cited T.C.A. Section 28-106, is not operative, and cannot be invoked by the defendants. The statute which authorizes annexation by municipalities under certain conditions is Chapter 113, of the Public Acts of 1955, and is now codified as T.C.A. Sections 6-308, 6-319. T.C.A. Section 6-309 provides: And T.C.A. Section 6-310, further provides: It is insisted by the defendants that the above sections constitute a statute of limitations, but we are of the opinion that the different statutes of limitation limit the time within which the remedy for a violation of an existing right must be exercised, and if the remedy is not pursued in time the statutes of limitation bar the remedy, and if pursued in time, but dismissed for any reason not concluding the right of action the saving statute comes into play and gives the litigant additional time within which to pursue his remedy. In Automobile Sales Co. v. Johnson, 174 Tenn. 38, 122 S.W.2d 453, 120 A.L.R. 370, the plaintiff brought suit against the Commissioner of Finance and Taxation to recover gasoline taxes paid under protest. The statute authorizing this suit was T.C.A. Section 67-2305, which reads as follows: Before this plaintiff had filed a suit in the Chancery Court for Shelby County to recover the same tax within thirty days after the payment thereof. This suit was dismissed without prejudice, upon a demurrer being sustained. In the trial of this case the court sustained a plea in abatement, after overruling a demurrer thereto. The plaintiff appealed insisting that since his suit in Chancery had been brought within thirty days, and had been dismissed upon grounds not concluding the right of action T.C.A. Section 28-106 had application. In Automobile Sales Co. v. Johnson, supra [174 Tenn. 38, 122 S.W.2d 456], this Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court, and held that said statute did not apply *123 in cases where the right was created by statute and in the same statute a time limit was set within which to exercise the right. See 37 Corpus Juris, page 1084; 54 C.J.S. Limitations of Actions § 217. The defendants, in this cause, were given a right by the statute, not a remedy, and were further given a limited time in which to exercise the right. The distinction between a statute of limitations of a general nature which relates to the remedy only, and a case like the present one where the statutory right in its very origin is limited, was considered in Vaught v. Virginia &amp; Southwestern Railroad, 132 Tenn. 679, 179 S.W. 314. This case held that since there was no provision in the Federal Act, which created the right of a new action to be instituted after a voluntary non-suit, the limitation of two years was a condition upon the right to sue at all, and T.C.A. Section 28-106 did not apply and could not be invoked. This is a case where the complainants are asking for a declaration of their rights under both a Statute and a Municipal Ordinance. The defendants insist that after the dismissal of their suit in the Circuit Court, they have twelve months in which to refile their suit. We hold that the defendants do not have a right by virtue of T.C.A. Section 28-106, to refile a suit one year from the date of the non-suit to commence a new action. It results that we find no error in the decree of the Chancellor and it is affirmed.