Opinion ID: 1696199
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Applicable Statutory Period of Limitations

Text: In light of the foregoing discussion, we must now determine whether the Michaels timely filed their action on February 26, 1990. To do this, we must decide when the Michaels' claim against Beasley accrued, i.e., whether it accrued on August 13, 1987, the date of the jury's verdict in Gunnin Pulpwood; on September 16, 1988, the date this Court affirmed the judgment in that case; or on March 22, 1989, the date Beasley informed the Michaels of that affirmance. If the Michaels' action accrued on August 13, 1987, then their claim would be barred under § 6-5-574(a). If, however, the accrual date was September 16, 1988, or March 22, 1989, then their claim would not be barred under § 6-5-574(a) because they would have filed their claim within the two-year limitations period. In Cofield v. Smith, 495 So.2d 61 (Ala. 1986), the plaintiff appealed from a summary judgment in favor of the defendant attorneys in a legal malpractice action. The defendants had represented the plaintiff in a felony prosecution that resulted in the plaintiff's conviction and sentencing. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants negligently advised him to plead guilty. The defendants denied the allegation and also raised the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense. They filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted. The issue presented on appeal was whether the plaintiff's action was barred by the statute of limitations. The applicable limitations period was the six-year period in Ala.Code 1975, § 6-2-34. In Cofield, we relied on and quoted Payne v. Alabama Cemetery Ass'n, Inc., 413 So.2d 1067 (Ala.1982), which discussed Alabama's law relating to the accrual of a cause of action: `The statute ... will not begin to run until some injury occurs which gives rise to a maintainable cause of action.... In actions such as the case at bar, the act complained of does not itself inflict a legal injury at the time it is done, but plaintiff's injury only follows as a result and a subsequent development of the defendant's act. In such cases, the cause of action `accrues,' and the statute of limitations begins to run, `when and only when, the damages are sustained.'' 495 So.2d at 62 (emphasis added). See also Garrett v. Raytheon Co., 368 So.2d 516 (Ala.1979). In holding that the plaintiff's action was time barred, this Court stated: The plaintiff's argument is premised on the erroneous assumption that no legal injury could have occurred on December 21, 1978 (the date the plaintiff pleaded guilty, allegedly on the advice of the defendants, and was convicted and sentenced under a legally defective indictment). It was on that date that the plaintiff's cause of action accrued, because it was at that time that the plaintiff would have first suffered a legal injury for which he would have been entitled to commence an action for damages against the defendants. Although the plaintiff's damages may have been compounded subsequently by virtue of the effect which the 1978 conviction had on the punishment enhancement provisions of Alabama's Habitual Felony Offender Act, the statute would, nonetheless, have begun to run on the date the conviction was entered. 495 So.2d at 62-63 (citations omitted). See also Payne v. Alabama Cemetery Ass'n, Inc., supra (statutory period of limitations will not begin to run until a party suffers an injury entitling him or her to maintain a cause of action); Garrett v. Raytheon Co., supra (statutory limitations period begins to run when a party suffers an injury entitling the party to maintain an action). We hold that in the present case the Michaels' claim accrued at the time of the jury verdict on August 13, 1987. It was at this time that they sustained a legal injury sufficient for them to maintain an action against Beasley. The limitations period should have been measured from the time of the jury verdict on August 13, 1987; therefore the Michaels' claim is barred under § 6-5-574(a) because they failed to file their claim within two years after the accrual of their cause of action. The Michaels filed their action against Beasley on February 26, 1990approximately six months after the expiration of the two-year limitations period. Consequently, we affirm the trial court's judgment.