Court Opinion

ID: 9749505
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:48:02.469765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:50.521883
License: Public Domain

SCHREIBER, J.,
concurring and dissenting.
The key issue is whether the statute of limitations bars this suit. The malpractice occurred on March 12, 1974 and this *261action was commenced about four years and eight months later on November 17, 1978. Plaintiffs assert that the two year limitation period does not bar this suit for two reasons.
First, the plaintiffs contend that the limitation period commenced sometime after March 12, 1974, the date of the injury, because the plaintiffs did not discover the cause of action until a later date. No hearing has been held to establish that starting point. However, the first suit was filed in January 1976 and, assuming “discovery” of the claim occurred then, this action, having been started two years and ten months later, would not be maintainable.
Second, plaintiff contends that the defendant is estopped from raising the statute of limitations defense. The dismissal on July 28, 1976 for failure to answer interrogatories was treated in an open ended fashion. Thereafter, the clerk listed the case for trial on at least ten occasions commencing on October 18,1976.1 Adjournments were sought and granted over a seventeen-month period. During this time plaintiff relied on the seeming vitality of the suit and defendants did nothing to dissuade that reliance. It apparently has been common practice among attorneys to accommodate counsel by not objecting to reinstatement of a suit when the time frames of Rule 4:23-5(a) have been exceeded. In view of all these circumstances, I would toll the running of the statute of limitations for the seventeen-month period. Even with such tolling, if the cause of action accrued on March 12, 1974, plaintiffs’ suit would have been started more than two years thereafter.
Still the plaintiff should not be barred since on this record we do not know when the cause of action arose. That determina*262tion would have to await a Lopez hearing. Lopez v. Swyer, 62 N.J. 267 (1973).
After the first suit was filed, the statute of limitations continued to run. Ivins v. Schooley, 18 N.J.L. 269 (Sup.Ct.1841). Therefore, the statute of limitations ran between January 1976, when the action was filed, and July 28,1976, when the complaint was dismissed.2 If the cause of action accrued on March 12, 1974 when the wrong was committed, as the majority assumes, a suit started March 12, 1976 would have been barred by the statute of limitations. Estoppel cannot be based on events that occurred subsequent to the dismissal of July 28, 1976, after the limitation period had expired. In the absence of any causal relationship between the conduct which is the foundation of the estoppel and the expiration of the period of limitations, the statutory period should be respected.
The majority would countenance a second action initiated on July 29,1976 because (1) the defendant had adequate warning of the claim, (2) he was not prejudiced by institution of the second suit and (3) the first action was dismissed because of misconduct of the plaintiffs’ attorney. The essential characteristic of a statute of limitations is the doctrine of repose. Justice Mountain observed in Lopez v. Swyer, supra, 62 N.J. at 274, that “statutes of limitations are statutes of repose and the principal consideration underlying their enactment is one of fairness to the defendant.” There comes a time when a party ought to be secure in his reasonable expectation that the matter has been put to rest.
Fair warning of a claim and lack of prejudice, irrespective of the passage of time, do not warrant tolling the statute. To do so would undermine the legislative goal of repose. Equitable estoppel prevents a defendant from raising the defense of the statute of limitations when these two factors, fair warning and *263no prejudice, are coupled with the defendant’s misconduct, which lulls the plaintiff into believing that the statute will not be a bar. Yet, here there was no misconduct on the part of the defendant, at least until after dismissal of the first suit. Moreover, no misconduct appears on the part of the plaintiff’s attorney, since he was seeking in good faith to discover an expert. The only misconduct referred to by the majority concerns representations made to the court after July 28, 1976. Ante at 254. Under all these circumstances, it is difficult to understand why the second action would not be barred if the cause of action had accrued on March 12, 1974.
It is clear, as the majority points out, that the order dismissing the first complaint did not contain the magic words “with prejudice” and was therefore without prejudice under R. 4:37-2(a).3 The majority, however, has also promulgated a new rule dealing with the institution of a second suit after the original action was dismissed for failure to answer interrogatories. Thus, even though the statute of limitations may not have run, a plaintiff may be barred from instituting a second suit “when the second complaint was filed merely to harass the defendant, when the delay has so prejudiced the defendant that his ability to defend his case is seriously impaired, or when other substantial equitable considerations suggest dismissal.” Ante at 253. I question whether this court has the authority to shorten the plaintiff’s statutory period within which to commence his action. Moreover, even if this Court had such authority, I would adhere to the traditional methods of formulating a new rule, particularly under these circumstances when the new rule is not necessary or applied to the instant case.
*264I would reverse and remand for a hearing to determine when the cause of action accrued and then to determine whether the statute of limitations barred the second action.

The Superior Court docket file card listed the following trial dates: October 18, 1976, December 22, 1976, February 28, 1977, May 12, 1977, June 23, 1977, September 12, 1977, October 17, 1977, November 30, 1977, January 25, 1978, February 15, 1978 and March 22, 1978. There is a notation next to the last date that per Mr. Brennan, attorney for the defendant, the matter was pending in the Appellate Division.

The first action had been dismissed without prejudice and principles governing a collateral attack on a prior judgment are inapplicable.

Statutes in most states permit the bringing of a new action, after the limitation period, within a specified time when there has been no adjudication on the merits. 51 Am.Jur.2d § 303, p. 808. New Jersey’s saving statute permits a new action within one year only after a judgment for the plaintiff has been reversed, N.J.S.A. 2A: 14-28. The statute would not be applicable where the plaintiff had not recovered a judgment.