Opinion ID: 1612217
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: nature of case and background

Text: On August 8, 1997, appellant Patricia A. Mulinix filed this action against appellee Paige J. Roberts, personal representative of the estate of Charles V. Weber, deceased. On April 17, 1993, Mulinix was injured in a truck-car accident, in which Weber died. Roberts was appointed personal representative of Weber's estate in April 1997. On April 16, Mulinix filed a claim in Weber's estate proceedings seeking monetary damages for injuries suffered in the accident. Roberts denied the claim and mailed a notice of disallowance to Mulinix on June 9. On August 8, within 60 days of this notice, Mulinix filed her petition against Roberts. Roberts filed a demurrer, alleging that Mulinix's petition failed to state a cause of action because the applicable statute of limitations barred the action. The trial court sustained the demurrer and ordered a dismissal. We removed this case to our docket under our power to regulate the caseloads of this court and the Nebraska Court of Appeals. The trial court based its order of dismissal on Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 25-207 and 30-2486 (Reissue 1995). The trial court stated § 25-207 requires that actions grounded in tort must be commenced within 4 years of the occurrence of the event giving rise to the cause of action. In addition, the trial court's order stated that § 30-2486 of the Nebraska Probate Code offers two options for presenting a claim: (1) The claimant may file a written statement of the claim ... with the clerk of the court.... (2) The claimant may commence a proceeding against the personal representative in any court which has subject matter jurisdiction ... but the commencement of the proceeding must occur within the time limited for presenting the claim. The trial court determined the following: Though the language in [Neb.Rev. Stat.] § 30-2484 [(Reissue 1995)] states that ... For purposes of any statute of limitations, the proper presentation of a claim under section 30-2486 is equivalent to commencement of a proceeding on the claim, the language in § 30-2486, along with the comments cited by [Roberts] offers a more definite statement of the law. The Nebraska Probate Code offers two options for presenting a claim under § 30-2486:(1) the claimant may file a written statement of the claim with the clerk of court, or (2) the claimant may commence a proceeding against the personal representative in any court which has subject matter jurisdiction. Since these two options are separate in the statute, the filing of a claim against the estate does not equal the commencement of a proceeding. Additionally, § 30-2486(2) states that the commencement of the proceeding must occur within the time limited for presenting the claim, specifically, the four year statute of limitations that began running on April 17, 1993 and expired on April 17, 1997. [Mulinix] did not commence a proceeding until August 8, 1997 and, therefore, did not come within the applicable statute of limitations.