Court Opinion

ID: 9572336
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:40:56.247025+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:32:30.614238
License: Public Domain

Shanahan, J.,
concurring.
These appeals involve an examination of the district court’s judgments to determine whether the trial court abused its *567discretion in dismissing the actions without prejudice.
[A] judicial abuse of discretion exists when a judge, within the effective limits of authorized judicial power, elects to act or refrain from action, but the selected option results in a decision which is untenable and unfairly deprives a litigant of a substantial right or a just result in matters submitted for disposition through a judicial system.
State v. Juki, 234 Neb. 33, 43, 449 N.W.2d 202, 209 (1989). Accord, Uhing v. Uhing, 241 Neb. 368, 488 N.W.2d 366 (1992); In re Interest of L. V., 240 Neb. 404, 482 N.W.2d 250 (1992); Newton v. Brown, 222 Neb. 605, 386 N.W.2d 424 (1986).
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-919(5) (Reissue 1991) of the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act acknowledges that Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-213 (Reissue 1989) applies to tort claims brought under the act, and § 13-919(1) specifies that an action under the act must be commenced within 2 years after the cause of action has accrued. Section 25-213 states:
[I]f a person entitled to bring any action mentioned in this chapter [or] the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act... is, at the time the cause of action accrued, within the age of twenty years, a person with a mental disorder, or imprisoned, every such person shall be entitled to bring such action within the respective times limited by this chapter after such disability is removed.
The Christianson petition alleges that the plaintiff, Kelly, “is an incompetent person” within § 25-213. With the exception of Heather Duncan, all other plaintiffs in the several actions are alleged to be within the age of 20 years when their causes of action accrued. Heather Duncan became 21 years old on October 21, 1992. Consequently, the statute of limitations otherwise applicable to commencement of an action under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act is suspended in accordance with § 25-213, so that each plaintiff in these actions is entitled to commence an action against Educational Service Unit No. 16 by refiling an action during the plaintiff’s legal disability or within a period of 2 years after the disability has been removed. For that reason, each of the plaintiffs in the present cases may immediately refile an action against the educational service unit inasmuch as dismissal has been without *568prejudice. Because each of the plaintiffs in the present appeals may refile an action and achieve his or her day in court on the merits of their respective claims, dismissal has not deprived any plaintiff of a substantial right; hence, an abuse of discretion has not occurred as the result of the dismissal.
The majority’s opinion concerning the differences between code pleading and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, while interesting reading, is extraneous to the only issue in these appeals, that is, whether the district court abused its discretion in dismissing the cases without prejudice. In light of § 25-213 in relation to the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act and in view of the absence of an abuse of discretion by the district court, I concur that the district court’s judgments of dismissal should be affirmed.