Court Opinion

ID: 9705450
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:06:54.022536+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:11.525259
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM:
The Superior Court of the District of Columbia dismissed appellant’s suit against Aluminum Association and other defendants on the ground that the three-year statute of limitations governing such actions had expired pursuant to D.C.Code § 12-301(3). Appellant Curtis concedes that the statute of limitations had run, but urges this court to apply the doctrine of “equitable tolling” and to hold that his earlier suit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which asserted the same cause of action but had been dismissed by that court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, tolled the statute of limitations for purposes of his Superior Court suit. We affirm.
Mr. Curtis, a member of the Bar who represents himself in this proceeding, seeks relief from alleged water damage to his property alleged to have occurred in February of 1987. He originally filed his action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on November 3, 1989. That action, although filed prior to the expiration of the three-year statute of limitations, failed to meet the subject matter jurisdictional requirement of “complete diversity” between all plaintiffs and all defendants. Accordingly, Mr. Curtis’ District Court lawsuit was dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. He subsequently filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court on February 13, 1991, well after the expiration of the three-year statute of limitations.
Mr. Curtis, relying primarily on decisions of other courts, urges this court to hold that equitable tolling excuses him from the statute of limitations of the District of Columbia. We have held, however, that “[tjhere is no basis for finding that filing suit in another jurisdiction tolls the statute of limitations here_” Namerdy v. Generalcar, 217 A.2d 109, 113 (D.C.1966); see also Bond v. Serano, 566 A.2d 47 (D.C.1989).
In Bond, plaintiff originally filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging diversity of citizenship. The District of Columbia, one of several defendants, successfully moved for dismissal of the suit as to it on the grounds for lack of diversity. Plaintiff subsequently filed an identical complaint *510against the District in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The statute of limitations, however, had expired by that time. Plaintiff argued on appeal that the original complaint filed in federal court tolled the statute of limitations with respect to the Superior Court action. This court upheld the trial court’s decision not to apply the doctrine of equitable tolling.
We are unconvinced by appellant’s efforts to distinguish the holding in Bond. There is no significant distinction between the circumstances upon which this court ruled in Bond, and the circumstances presented here. Thus, our holding in Bond binds this division.
Affirmed.