Opinion ID: 1443548
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Smith's Estoppel Arguments Fail.

Text: Smith asserts three related arguments based on principles of estoppel: equitable estoppel, quasi-estoppel, and equitable tolling. All fail. Equitable estoppel does not apply because Smith was not prejudiced by the release, regardless of its validity or the representations made by State Farm concerning its legal effect. Quasi-estoppel does not apply because Thompson has asserted no inconsistent positions. Finally, equitable tolling does not serve to toll the statute of limitations because Smith was not engaged in pursuing her rights in a judicial or quasi-judicial forum. In Groseth v. Ness, 421 P.2d 624 (Alaska 1966), this court adopted the doctrine of equitable estoppel as a prohibition against an unjust reliance upon a statute of limitations. Id. at 630. We stated: To establish an equitable estoppel it is generally necessary that the party seeking to assert it show that the other party made some misrepresentation, or false statement, or acted fraudulently and that he reasonably relied on such acts or representations of the other party, and due to such reliance did not institute suit timely. Id. at 632 n. 23 (emphasis added). Similarly, in Gudenau & Co., Inc. v. Sweeney Ins., Inc., 736 P.2d 763 (Alaska 1987), we stated: A plaintiff who is aware of the elements of his cause of action but fails to file suit within the limitations period may still be protected if he has been induced, by defendant's words or conduct, to postpone filing suit until the limitations period has run. One who induces delay will be equitably estopped from asserting the delay as a bar to plaintiff's action, upon the equitable principle that no party will be permitted to profit from his or her wrongdoing. Id. at 768-769 (emphasis added). Though the parties expend considerable energy debating whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of the State Farm representative, this issue is moot and we need not consider it. [4] As both Groseth and Gudenau indicate, a wrongdoing will preclude the assertion of the statute of limitations as a defense only if that wrongdoing actually caused Smith's failure to institute suit. Smith's accident occurred on November 30, 1987. She had no pain throughout 1988. She only began to experience pain again in early 1989. She attributed the onset of this pain to a heavy cast she wore because of her broken wrist. Smith acknowledges that it was not until the summer of 1991, at the earliest, that she first learned from her chiropractor that she might have a spinal injury resulting from the accident. Until then she and her doctors attributed all pain after the initial month of neck pain immediately following the injury, to factors other than the accident. Even when viewed in the light most favorable to Smith, the facts clearly indicate that she made no association between her pain and the accident until the summer of 1991  three and a half years after the accident, and one and a half years after the statute of limitations had expired. Consequently, even assuming the adjuster's conduct and statements constituted a wrongdoing, it is clear that the release had nothing to do with Smith's delay in filing suit. Since she was unaware that the pain she was experiencing may have been attributable to the accident, she would not have brought suit against Thompson even absent the release. In short, regardless of whether the adjuster committed any wrongdoing or misrepresentation, Smith suffered no prejudice. Smith's quasi-estoppel argument can also be dismissed. Quasi-estoppel applies where facts and circumstances make the assertion of an inconsistent position unconscionable. Wright v. State, 824 P.2d 718, 721 (Alaska 1992). This argument would succeed only if Thompson was asserting a position inconsistent with one he had previously taken. There is no indication that any of Thompson's positions have been inconsistent. Finally, Smith's equitable tolling argument fails because the requirements of the doctrine are not satisfied. The equitable tolling doctrine applies to relieve a plaintiff from the bar of the statute of limitations when he has more than one legal remedy available to him. The statute is equitably tolled if (1) pursuit of the initial remedy gives defendant notice of plaintiff's claim, (2) defendant's ability to gather evidence is not prejudiced by the delay, and (3) plaintiff acted reasonably and in good faith. The statute is tolled only when the initial remedy is pursued in a judicial or quasi-judicial forum. Dayhoff v. Temsco Helicopters, 772 P.2d 1085, 1087 (Alaska 1989) (citations omitted). Smith was not pursuing an alternative legal remedy in a judicial or quasi-judicial forum when she was negotiating the settlement with State Farm. Furthermore, even if equitable tolling applied in this case, it would only serve to toll the statute during the time the alternative remedy was being pursued. The tolling of the statute for the few days it took to negotiate and execute the release would have no effect on this case, since the full limitations period would have expired before this suit was filed even if the period had been extended by those days. See id. at 1088 n. 6 (Plaintiff is entitled to the benefit of the full statutory period after the circumstances which justify equitable tolling abate.).