Opinion ID: 1799721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: statute of limitations for negligence and wantonness claims

Text: The Bookers assert that the trial court improperly granted United American's summary judgment motion on their claims of negligent or wanton supervision of Stone, and on the question of its liability for Stone's own negligent or wanton behavior. The trial court held that these claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations. We agree. Section 6-2-38, Ala.Code 1975, provides a two-year limitations period for claims alleging liability for negligence, whether the liability is direct or based upon the doctrine of respondeat superior. [12] Thus, a plaintiff must bring a negligence action within two years of the time the action accrued. Because the savings provision for fraud actions (§ 6-2-3) does not operate to postpone the running of the limitations period for nonfraud claims, whether the Bookers' negligence and wantonness claims are time-barred depends on when they accrued. It is well settled that a negligence cause of action accrues when the plaintiff can first maintain the action, regardless of whether the full amount of damage is apparent at the time of the first injury. Henson v. Celtic Life Insurance Co., 621 So.2d 1268, 1271, 1274 (Ala.1993). In Henson, 621 So.2d at 1271, 1274, this Court held that the plaintiff's completion of an application for a health insurance policy started the running of the two-year limitations period for a negligence action. Further, in Henson, 621 So.2d at 1273, this Court commented that an action for inducing a plaintiff to give up an old insurance policy in favor of a new policy accrued when the plaintiff gave up the old policy. In this case, as in Henson, 621 So.2d at 1274, the Bookers admit that any negligence or wantonness on the part of Stone or United American occurred, at the latest, in May 1991, when the Bookers signed the application and wrote the check for the policy. Thus, their claims accrued in May 1991. Because the Bookers filed their complaint in August 1993over two years after their claims accruedtheir negligence and wantonness claims are time-barred. The summary judgment in favor of United American is affirmed. AFFIRMED. HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX, HOUSTON, and KENNEDY, JJ., concur. SHORES, J., recuses.