Opinion ID: 2601898
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Claims for intentional interference with prospective business advantage and intentional interference with contractual relations are claims for injury to personal property and are therefore subject to the three-year statute of limitations in NRS 11.190(3)(c)

Text: Stalk and Urban Construction argue on appeal that NRS 11.190(2)(c)'s four-year statute of limitations applies to both of their intentional interference claims because those claims are grounded on damage to intangible or inchoate interests in obtaining future benefits. In response, Mushkin maintains that the district court properly applied NRS 11.190(4)(e)'s two-year statute of limitations. He alternatively argues that NRS 11.190(3)(c)'s three-year limitation period applies because a contract right is personal property. Under either statute, Mushkin asserts that summary judgment was appropriate because more than three years elapsed before Stalk and Urban Construction filed their complaint. Here, the district court concluded that NRS 11.190(4)(e) applied to Stalk and Urban Construction's claims for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage and with contractual relations. NRS 11.190(4)(e) provides a two-year statute of limitations for action[s] to recover damages for injuries to a person . . . caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Although Mushkin asserts that this provision provides the statute of limitations for all wrongful act torts generally, we have previously addressed and rejected this argument. [1] To determine the statute of limitations applicable to claims for intentional interference with prospective business advantage and contractual relations, we must first determine the true nature of those claims. See Hartford Ins. v. Statewide Appliances, 87 Nev. 195, 197, 484 P.2d 569, 571 (1971) (explaining that the object of the action, rather than the legal theory under which recovery is sought, governs when determining the type of action for statute of limitations purposes). Claims for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage and contractual relations seek compensation for damage to business interests. See Zimmerman v. Bank of America National T. & S. Ass'n, 191 Cal. App.2d 55, 12 Cal.Rptr. 319, 321 (1961) (The actionable wrong lies in the inducement to break the contract or to sever the relationship, not in the kind of contract or relationship so disrupted, whether it is written or oral, enforceable or not enforceable.). Business interests include intangible assets and inchoate rights, as well as other rights incidental to business ownership. See Teller v. Teller, 99 Hawai`i 101, 53 P.3d 240, 248 (2002) (indicating that goodwill and trade secrets are intangible assets in which business owners have property rights). See also Clark v. Figge, 181 N.W.2d 211, 215 (Iowa 1970) (citing Liggett Co. v. Baldridge, 278 U.S. 105, 111, 49 S.Ct. 57, 73 L.Ed. 204 (1928), overruled on other grounds by North Dakota Pharmacy Bd. v. Snyder's Stores, 414 U.S. 156, 167, 94 S.Ct. 407, 38 L.Ed.2d 379 (1973)). Such interests are personal property. Generally, claims for interference with prospective business advantage and with contractual relations are recognized as actions in tort, not in contract, and will be governed by the statute of limitations relating to torts. Maurice T. Brunner, Annotation, What Statute of Limitations Governs Action for Interference with Contract or Other Economic Relations, 58 A.L.R.3d 1027, § 2[a] (1974). However, in some jurisdictions, including Nevada, where separate statutes govern injuries to persons and injuries to property, there is a split of authority as to which statute of limitations applies to claims for intentional interference with prospective business advantage and contractual relations. Id.; see also NRS 11.190(3)(c) and 11.190(4)(e). We therefore must determine whether Nevada's statute of limitations governing injuries to persons or the statute of limitations governing property damage apply to claims for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage and contractual relations. As explained above, claims for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage and contractual relations seek compensation for damage to business interests, which are personal property. See Teller, 53 P.3d at 248; see also Clark, 181 N.W.2d at 215 (citing Liggett, 278 U.S. at 111, 49 S.Ct. 57). Because we have determined that business interests are personal property, we conclude that intentional interference with these business interests are actions for taking personal property and not actions for injuries to a person. See Clark, 181 N.W.2d at 216 (concluding that a claim for interference in business relationships was fundamentally proprietary in character although incidental injuries may have been of a different nature). Thus, we conclude that intentional interference with business interests are subject to the three-year statute of limitations set forth in NRS 11.190(3)(c). Nevertheless, despite the district court's application of an incorrect two-year statute of limitations, summary judgment was appropriate on Stalk and Urban Construction's claims for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage and with contractual relations because those claims are time-barred by the correct three-year statute of limitations set forth in NRS 11.190(3)(c). In particular, the statutes of limitation began running on Stalk and Urban Construction's claims when Bird terminated Urban Construction as the general contractor for RPSC by letter dated June 7, 2001. While Stalk and Urban Construction offer various events as triggering the beginning of the limitations period on their claims for intentional interference with prospective advantage and contractual relations, the letter from Bird occurred last in time among the proposed triggering events. Stalk and Urban Construction filed this action on August 26, 2004, more than three years after Urban Construction was terminated as general contractor. Since Stalk and Urban Construction failed to file this action within three years of the triggering event, their claims are time-barred under NRS 11.190(3)(c), and the district court therefore properly entered summary judgment on their claims for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage and intentional interference with contractual relations. See Butler v. Bayer, 123 Nev. ___, ___ n. 22, 168 P.3d 1055, 1062 n. 22 (2007) (`[T]his court will affirm the order of the district court if it reached the correct result, albeit for different reasons.' (quoting Rosenstein v. Steele, 103 Nev. 571, 575, 747 P.2d 230, 233 (1987))).