Court Opinion

ID: 9622414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:17:19.373078+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:41:39.455895
License: Public Domain

Justice KITTREDGE,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The City of Newberry annexed the property in question (the Wal-Mart property) on July 27, 1999. I agree with the majority that because Newberry Electric Cooperative was not serving the Wal-Mart property on the date of annexation, the City of Newberry had the exclusive statutory right to provide electric service to the property. In my judgment, the City lost its right to provide electric service by failing to assert its claim within the statutory period of limitations. Based on the facts and circumstances presented, the three-year statute of limitations began on July 27, 1999. The City commenced this action on June 2, 2003. Because I believe the City of Newberry filed this action beyond the statute of limitations, I vote to affirm the court of appeals decision in result.
I agree with the majority in its analysis of South Carolina Code section 33-49-250. The annexation exception portion of the statute only allows a cooperative that “is serving” an area to continue serving that area after annexation. The majority’s interpretation is in accord with the clear and unambiguous terms of the statute and is consistent with our holding in City of Camden v. Fairfield Electric Cooperative, Inc., 372 S.C. 543, 643 S.E.2d 687 (2007). I additionally agree with the majority that the fact that the area was assigned to the Cooperative has no bearing on the applicability of the annexation exception.
Nonetheless, I believe the three-year statute of limitations bars the City’s claim against the Cooperative. Statutes of limitations are not simply technicalities; rather, they have long been respected as fundamental to a well-ordered judicial system. Moates v. Bobb, 322 S.C. 172, 176, 470 S.E.2d 402, 404 (Ct.App.1996). Statutes of limitations embody important public policy considerations in that they stimulate activity, punish negligence, and promote repose by giving security and stability to human affairs. Anonymous Taxpayer v. S.C. Dep’t of Revenue, 377 S.C. 425, 438, 661 S.E.2d 73, 80 (2008).
*262As the court of appeals recognized, the City relied on the applicable statutes for its exclusive right to provide electric service to Wal-Mart. Under South Carolina Code section 15-3-530(2), a party must assert “an action upon a liability created by a statute” within three years. Under the discovery rule, the statute of limitations begins to run from the date the injured party either knows or should know, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, that a cause of action exists for the wrongful conduct. Epstein v. Brown, 363 S.C. 372, 376, 610 S.E.2d 816, 818 (2005). The exercise of reasonable diligence means simply that an injured party must act with some promptness where the facts and circumstances of an injury would put a person of common knowledge and experience on notice that some right of his has been invaded or that some claim against another party might exist. Id.
In this case, it became common knowledge in late 1998 and early 1999 that Wal-Mart intended to build a new store on the property and that the Cooperative and the City both wanted to provide electric service to the future structure. On May 28, 1999, the Cooperative filed a complaint with the Public Service Commission (PSC) seeking an injunction prohibiting the City from providing electric service to the Wal-Mart site. On June 11, the PSC issued a cease and desist order against the City, thereby prohibiting it from attempting to supply the site with service until a hearing on the merits could be held.
On June 18, the Cooperative initiated an action in the circuit court seeking an injunction prohibiting the City from annexing the Wal-Mart property and prohibiting the City from requiring Wal-Mart to choose the City as the service provider as a condition for receiving other municipal services. This action was later dismissed by consent of the parties.
On June 21, 1999, the Cooperative and Wal-Mart entered into a contract in which the Cooperative agreed to provide Wal-Mart electric service. In accordance with the June 21 service contract, the Cooperative began clearing land and relocating electric poles and power lines. The following day, lawyers on behalf of the Cooperative and the City mailed a letter to the PSC on behalf of the Cooperative and the City informing it that “[t]he issues raised in the Petition and Complaint in the above matter have been resolved, and this *263matter is now moot.” The Cooperative and the City submitted a proposed consent order of dismissal signed by counsel for the parties. The order of dismissal was signed by the PSC and filed on August 4,1999.
On July 26, 1999, the developer sent a letter to the City stating that it intended to select the City as the electric service provider for areas surrounding the Wal-Mart store. Significantly, however, the developer specifically stated, “please bear in mind that this letter should not be construed to include the Wal-Mart store ... as a part of the contract for electric service.”
The next day, on July 27, 1999, the City annexed the entire property. The City knew on the annexation date that the Cooperative had not begun furnishing electric service to any premises on the property.
In my view, on July 27, 1999, the date of annexation, the City was on notice that it had the exclusive right to provide electric service to the Wal-Mart property. The City knew or should have known the Cooperative could not avail itself of the annexation exception, yet the City knew of the Cooperative’s very visible efforts to promptly move forward with its plan to provide electric service to the annexed property. Therefore, under these facts and circumstances, on the date of annexation, the City was on notice that the Cooperative had taken steps to invade the rights of the City. Accordingly, I would hold that the statute of limitations began to run on July 27, 1999.
The City argues it first discovered it had a claim against the Cooperative on January 6, 2003, the day the court of appeals issued its opinion in City of Newberry v. Newberry Electric Cooperative, Inc., 352 S.C. 570, 575 S.E.2d 83 (Ct.App.2003) (commonly referred to as the “Burger King ” case). In essence, the City asserts it discovered its rights in the Burger King decision.
I reject the City’s position for two, independent reasons. First, the City’s right to provide electricity is not dependent on the holding of Burger King. Because the Cooperative was not “serving” Wal-Mart on the date of annexation, the City’s exclusive right to serve the Wal-Mart property was established pursuant to the statutory scheme. This Court’s 2007 *264opinion in City of Camden v. Fairfield Electric Cooperative, as the majority compellingly demonstrates, confirmed existing law and did not mark a departure from it. Second, the discovery rule may be invoked to delay the commencement of a statute of limitations based on the discovery of facts, not the discovery of law. See Burgess v. American Cancer Soc’y., S.C. Div., Inc., 300 S.C. 182, 386 S.E.2d 798 (Ct.App.1989) (observing that under the discovery rule, the statute of limitations begins to run when “such facts as would have led to the knowledge” of a potential claim).4
Furthermore, the City’s complaint in this matter also shows that it was well aware of its rights at the time of annexation. In its complaint, the City alleges the Cooperative could not look to the annexation exception as a source for authority to provide service because the Cooperative was not providing service to the Wal-Mart property at the time of annexation. In fact, the City argued “the Cooperative was aware that annexation would preclude its authority to provide electric service” in its brief to the trial court. Additionally, in its reply to the Cooperative’s counterclaim, the City specifically averred that “upon annexation, [the Cooperative] lost its statutory authority to enter and agree to a contract to provide electric service to Wal-Mart under the law of South Carolina. Further responding the City would show that upon its annexation it acquired the exclusive rights to provide electric service to the subject tract on which Wal-Mart is located.” (emphasis added).
*265In my view, the City’s assertions in the pleadings show that it was aware of all of the necessary facts at the time of annexation. I would reject the City’s transparent attempt to delay the start of the statute of limitations until its purported discovery of the law. See Epstein, 363 S.C. at 376, 610 S.E.2d at 818 (noting that the statute begins to run at the point of discovery of facts and not when advice of counsel is sought or a full-blown theory of recovery is developed).
In my judgment, effective July 27, 1999, the City had three years to assert its right to provide electrical service to the Wal-Mart property. Having failed to do so, the City’s action is time barred. I vote to affirm the court of appeals in result.

. Misinterpretation of the law does not toll the statute of limitations. On June 21, 1999, Charles Guerry, the Utility Director for the City, executed an affidavit in which he stated the City was not requiring WalMart to accept electric service as a condition for receiving other municipal services, and that "it is the City’s position that annexation of the property would enable Wal-Mart to select the City as its electric sendee provider.” Although the position that Wal-Mart had a right to choose its provider was contrary to the law, the City’s erroneous position has no bearing on the statute of limitations. See 54 C.J.S. Limitations of Actions § 116 (2009) ("Mere ignorance of the existence of a cause of action ... generally does not prevent the running of a statute of limitations.”); Miller v. Pac. Shore Funding, 224 F.Supp.2d 977, 986 (D.Md.2002) (recognizing that ”[t]he discovery rule, in other words, applies to discovery of facts, not to discovery of law. Knowledge of the law is presumed.”).