Opinion ID: 1966664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Amended Complaint and the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [4]

Text: On October 14, 2003, the Superior Court granted Parker's motion to amend. The defendants responded by moving to dismiss the amended complaint on the ground that the claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations applicable to personal injury actions. [5] In opposition, Parker argued that the amended complaint was not time-barred, because it related back to the State I complaint, which, in turn, related back to the original federal complaint that had been filed within the two-year statute of limitations. The Superior Court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss. [6] In so concluding, the Superior Court relied upon a federal Court of Appeals decision, Robinson v. Johnson , in which the Third Circuit held that the defense of limitations is waived if it is not raised as early as reasonably possible. [7] The Superior Court concluded that under the Robinson doctrine the defendants here had waived their limitations defense by failing to raise it in opposition to Parker's motion to amend, which, the Superior Court determined, was the earliest reasonably possible time that defense could have been raised. This Court granted the defendants' interlocutory appeal from that ruling.