Opinion ID: 578371
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Tolling Due to Imprisonment

Text: 10 Lawson contends that the district court was incorrect in rejecting his claim that the statute of limitations was tolled during his various imprisonments. Specifically, Lawson argues that his first stay in the hospital was in reality an imprisonment and therefore the statute should have been tolled during that period; he also claims that the statute should have been tolled during his subsequent periods of incarceration in the Augusta City Stockade. 11 We conclude that the district court properly rejected this argument. Assuming arguendo that Lawson's hospitalization was an imprisonment, see Acker v. Elberton, 176 Ga.App. 580, 336 S.E.2d 842, 845 (1985), we conclude that neither this hospitalization nor Lawson's subsequent imprisonment effected a tolling of the statute of limitations pursuant to O.C.G.A. §§ 9-3-90, 9-3-91. 12 Lawson's claim that the statute was tolled due to his imprisonments is based on former O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90, which provided that: 13 [m]inors, persons who are legally incompetent because of mental retardation or mental illness, or persons imprisoned, who are such when the cause of action accrues, shall be entitled to the same time after their disability is removed to bring an action as is prescribed for other persons. (Emphasis added). 14 In 1984, however, section 9-3-90 was amended and the words or persons imprisoned were deleted from the statute. The amendment was effective on July 1, 1984. 15 Lawson argues that the old, not the amended statute, governs his case because his cause of action arose prior to July 1, 1984. We conclude that this argument is without merit, given the express language of the amendment. For, in addition to deleting the words or persons imprisoned, the Georgia legislature added subsection (b), a retroactivity provision. 4 Subsection (b) provides that: 16 [N]o action accruing to a person imprisoned at the time of its accrual which, prior to July 1, 1984, has been barred by the provisions of this chapter relating to limitations of actions shall be revived by this chapter, as amended. No action accruing to a person imprisoned at the time of its accrual which would be barred before July 1, 1984, by the provisions of this chapter, as amended, but which would not be so barred by the provisions of this chapter in force immediately prior to July 1, 1984, shall be barred until July 1, 1985. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90(b). (Emphasis added). 17 Although the Georgia Supreme Court has yet to interpret this provision, the court construed a similarly worded retroactivity provision in another statute of limitations as rendering the new statute of limitations applicable to all actions viable as of the effective date of the new statute, with a one year grace period for those actions that would become time-barred by the application of the new rule. Allrid v. Emory University, 249 Ga. 35, 285 S.E.2d 521, 524 (1982). 18 We conclude that subsection 9-3-90(b) should be similarly interpreted. 5 Accordingly, we affirm the district court's ruling that the imprisonment tolling provisions of former O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90 do not result in a tolling of the statute of limitations in the instant case. The grace period for imprisonment tolling claims based on imprisonments occurring prior to July 1, 1984, expired on July 1, 1985. See O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90(b). As Lawson's complaint was filed after the expiration of this grace period, the imprisonment tolling provisions of former O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90 have no effect on the applicable limitations period for Lawson's action. 6 19