Court Opinion

ID: 9701603
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:27:10.443267+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:25.772660
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, J.,
dissenting.
I would construe N.J.S.A. 2A:14-22 to toll the statute of limitations as to a foreign corporation against which there is a cause of action in this State only in a situation where such corporation is not amenable to personal jurisdiction.
*298Defendant corporations were subject to long-arm jurisdiction in this State at all relevant times as found by the trial court. See R. 4:4-4(c)(l). Indeed, service was made upon them pursuant to the rule. To hold that despite this, a plaintiff can sit back for any number of years and file suit at his pleasure against such foreign corporations, is to do violence to the concept of limitations of actions. The construction placed upon N.J.S.A. 2A:14-22 by the majority opinion, while following the literal language of the statute, frustrates the very purpose of the tolling provision and places this Court with a minority of jurisdictions. See Annotation, “Tolling of statute of limitations during absence from state as affected by fact that party claiming benefit or limitations remained subject to service during absence of nonresidence,” 55 A.L.R.3d 1158 (1974). As noted in the annotation, a majority of courts have refused to give application to tolling provisions when the party claiming the benefit of limitations has remained amenable to personal jurisdiction.
A recent comment in 10 Seton Hall L.Rev. 585 (1980) entitled “The Tolling Provision of the Statute of Limitations—a Haven for the Dilatory Plaintiff,” makes a critical analysis of N.J.S.A. 2A:14-22 and the position now taken in the majority opinion and rejects it on constructional as well as constitutional grounds. The comment concludes by stating that “[a] statute that serves to placate the dilatory plaintiff while denying an important right to a nonresident defendant is an anomaly in a jurisdiction noted for progressive developments in the law corresponding to the changes in the circumstances to which the law applies.” Id. at 613. Despite the rigidity of some tolling and limitations statutory provisions, this Court has always construed them to effectuate the true statutory purpose. See, e. g., Galligan v. Westfield Centre Service, Inc., 82 N.J. 188 (1980); White v. Violent Crimes Compensation Board, 76 N.J. 368 (1978). It has not done so today.
Although I find it unnecessary to reach the issue, the statutory construction of N.J.S.A. 2A:14-22 adopted by the majority also raises substantial questions of due process and equal protection of the laws. I would reverse the Appellate Division and *299reinstate the judgment of the trial court dismissing the complaint.
Justice HANDLER joins in this dissent.
For affirmance—Chief Justice WILENTZ and Justices PASHMAN, CLIFFORD, SCHREIBER and POLLOCK—5.
For reversal—Justices SULLIVAN and HANDLER—2.