Court Opinion

ID: 9764367
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:19:36.174782+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:56.044691
License: Public Domain

Justice BEATTY.
While I concur in parts I, III, IV, V, VI, and VII of the majority opinion, I disagree with the majority’s analysis in part II dealing with the import and interpretation of section 15-39-30. The majority is correct in concluding that section 15-39-30 is not a statute of limitation. In my view, the majority is incorrect in concluding that it operates similar to one under the facts of this case.
Section 15-39-30 is not a statute of limitation, but it is clearly a statute of repose. There is a significant difference between the two. A statute of limitation is an affirmative *559defense that allows a party to avoid suit. A statute of limitation has no effect on the validity of the claim; it only effects the claim’s enforcement. In contrast, a statute of repose is not a claim-avoidance mechanism. Instead, a statute of repose extinguishes the claim, in this case the judgment. As we have stated:
A statute of limitations is a procedural device that operates as a defense to limit the remedy available from an existing cause of action. A statute of repose creates a substantive right in those protected to be free from liability after a legislatively determined period of time. Langley v. Pierce, 313 S.C. 401, 403-04, 438 S.E.2d 242, 243 (1993). A statute of repose is typically an absolute time limit beyond which liability no longer exists and is not tolled for any reason because to do so would upset the economic balance struck by the legislative body. Id. at 404, 438 S.E.2d at 243.
Capco of Summerville, Inc. v. J.H. Gayle Constr. Co., 368 S.C. 137, 142, 628 S.E.2d 38, 41 (2006) (emphasis added); Harrison v. Bevilacqua, 354 S.C. 129, 138, 580 S.E.2d 109, 113-14 (2003).
This Court has repeatedly stated that a statute of repose is not tolled for any reason. Langley v. Pierce, 313 S.C. 401, 404, 438 S.E.2d 242, 243 (1993); Capeo, 368 S.C. at 142, 628 S.E.2d at 41. Therefore, in my view, the majority’s reliance on Hardee v. Lynch, 212 S.C. 6, 46 S.E.2d 179 (1948) and Hughes v. Slater, 214 S.C. 305, 52 S.E.2d 419 (1949) is misplaced. Neither case supports extending the life of a judgment after the expiration of the statute of repose. Furthermore, the majority’s reference to language in Hardee stating that our state’s statutes “clearly evince a legislative purpose to nullify the effective force of a judgment after ten years, unless revived, or suit thereon be brought” is taken out of context. Hardee, 212 S.C. at 14, 46 S.E.2d at 182. Additionally, it ignores the fact that the statutory scheme referred to in Hardee has been repealed and its obsolescence acknowledged by the Hardee court. Id. at 13, 46 S.E.2d at 182. The Hardee court was referring to the way judgments were treated prior to the change in the law. Although the judgment in Hardee was more than ten years old, the applicable law affecting the judgment allowed the judgment to be revived for another ten years if suit was brought. After the expiration of *560twenty years, there was a presumption of payment. This presumption of payment was effective unless the judgment creditor brought suit prior to the expiration of the twenty-year period. Id. at 12, 46 S.E.2d at 181. The law, however, subsequently changed and eliminated the possibility of suit on the judgment after twenty years. The statute that allowed for the revival of a judgment was also repealed, thus ending the active energy of a judgment after ten years. Id. at 13, 46 S.E.2d at 182.
In reaching its conclusion, the Hardee court referred to its decision in United States Rubber Company v. McManus, 211 S.C. 342, 45 S.E.2d 335 (1947), for an understanding of the effects of Act No. 516 of the Acts of the General Assembly for the year 1946, 44 Statutes at Large, 1436. Hardee, 212 S.C. at 13, 46 S.E.2d at 181. In recognizing that Act 516 radically changed the operation and effect of existing statutes governing judgments, the McManus court stated:
Prior to the passage of the 1946 Act ... the limitation for bringing an action on a judgment was twenty years, Section 387, subsection 1. Section 743, subsection 1, provided that judgments shall constitute a lien on the real estate of the judgment debtor for ten years from date of entry. And the procedure was set forth in subsections 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Section 743 as to how judgments could be renewed or revived within the period of ten years by the service of a summons upon the judgment debtor. Section 745 permitted an action on a judgment after the lapse of twenty years from the date of its entry.
By Act of the general assembly approved March 22,1946, 44 Stat. at Large 1436, the legislature repealed subsection 1 of Section 387, thus taking away the right to bring an action upon a judgment within twenty years. The Act likewise repealed subsections 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Section 743 of the Code, which authorized the renewal or revival of judgments within the period of ten years, and also repealed Section 745 of the Code, which permitted an action upon a judgment after a lapse of twenty years from the date of the original entry thereof.
McManus, 211 S.C. at 345-46, 45 S.E.2d at 336.
As noted by the Hardee court, “[t]he logical result of the 1946 enactment, 44 Stats. 1436, was to utterly extinguish a *561judgment after the expiration of ten years from the date of entry.” Hardee, 212 S.C. at 17, 46 S.E.2d at 183.
The Hardee court specifically declined to address the question of what happens when a timely-filed action to enforce a judgment is not concluded prior to the expiration of the ten-year repose period as it was unnecessary to resolve the issue before it. Hardee, 212 S.C. at 13, 46 S.E.2d at 182. But, the Court in Garrison v. Owens, 258 S.C. 442, 189 S.E.2d 31 (1972), squarely confronted the question and concluded that an action to enforce the lien will not preserve it beyond the time by statute if such time expires before the action is tried. Id. at 446-47, 189 S.E.2d at 33 (“A judgment lien is purely statutory, its duration as fixed by the legislature may not be prolonged by the courts and the bringing of an action to enforce the lien will not preserve it beyond the time fixed by the statute, if such time expires before the action is tried.”). I believe the Gamson court was correct and, thus, I would uphold its decision. If the law is to be changed, it must be done by the Legislature not the Court.