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Slooten v. Estate Of Schneider-Janzen3/6/2001
Respondent attempted to commence a personal injury action against the driver-owner of an automobile but learned that she had died. Respondent amended her pleadings to name as defendants the decedent's estate and decedent's husband, as personal representative. No personal representative was ever appointed. Appellants moved to dismiss the action for insufficiency of service of process. The district court ruled that decedent's husband had actual notice of the claim and that the action, although improperly commenced, could be maintained against decedent's estate. Because such an action is maintainable only against the personal representative of the decedent's estate, the district court erred in denying appellants' motion to dismiss.
FACTS
On September 7, 1993, Linda Kay Schneider-Janzen was driving an automobile, of which she was sole owner, when it collided with an automobile driven by respondent Mary Lou Van Slooten. Both drivers were injured.
Schneider-Janzen and her husband, appellant Daniel Janzen, sued Van Slooten for damages resulting from the collision. Van Slooten did not counterclaim. After trial, the jury returned its special verdict finding Schneider-Janzen totally at fault for the accident.
Schneider-Janzen died on October 22, 1998. There was no probate of her estate and no personal representative was ever appointed.
On August 23, 1999, a Hennepin County deputy sheriff delivered to Daniel Janzen at his home a copy of a summons and complaint in a lawsuit brought by Van Slooten against Schneider-Janzen, asserting a claim for damages from the automobile accident of September 7, 1993. Daniel Janzen told the deputy that Schneider-Janzen had died, and the deputy noted on the certificate of service, "Linda Died Oct 22, 1998."
The six-year statute of limitations for bringing negligence claims expired on September 7, 1999.
Van Slooten served Daniel Janzen with an amended summons and complaint on November 22, 1999, naming as defendants the estate of Schneider-Janzen and Daniel Janzen as personal representative. Neither Janzen nor anyone else had been appointed as personal representative of the estate.
Janzen answered and asserted defenses of insufficiency of service of process and statute of limitations. He then moved to dismiss the action under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(d) for insufficiency of service of process. The district court denied the motion on the ground that, even though the lawsuit had not been properly commenced, Janzen had actual notice of the action. Janzen appeals.
ISSUES
1. Is an order denying a Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(d) motion to dismiss for insufficiency of service of process reviewable?
2. When a person who is liable for a personal injury dies before a lawsuit is commenced, and no personal representative of the decedent's estate has been appointed, is a lawsuit effectively commenced by merely naming the decedent's spouse as personal representative in the summons and complaint and then serving the decedent's spouse?
3. Does the relation-back doctrine apply when the proper defendant has never been served with a summons?
ANALYSIS
Van Slooten suggests that this is an appeal from a denial of a summary judgment motion and as such is not ripe for review. It is clear from the order of June 21, 2000, that the district court denied Janzen's Rule 12 dismissal motion. Such order is appealable and is ripe for review. Hunt v. Nevada State Bank, 285 Minn. 77, 88-89, 172 N.W.2d 292, 299-300 (1969).
The application of court rules and the determination of the sufficiency of service of process are que
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