 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Conley v. Harmony Blue Granite Co.6/27/2000
105, the three-year discovery statute relative to "property tort actions," then becomes the appropriate limiting statute.
28-3-205. Limitation not defense for party in possession, guilty of fraud, or who conceals cause of action. -- (a) . . . .
(b) The limitation hereby provided shall not be available as a defense to any person who shall have been guilty of fraud in performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision, observation of construction, construction of, or land surveying, in connection with such an improvement, or to any person who shall wrongfully conceal any such cause of action.
The fallacy with this reasoning is that T.C.A. 28-3-205(b) above quoted speaks of "fraud in performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision, observation of construction, construction of, or land surveying, in connection with such an improvement." The failure to have a license to do business in our view is not a fraud contemplated by subsection (b). Additionally, subsection (b) provides that the statute of repose is unavailable to those who "wrongfully conceal any such cause of action." There is absolutely nothing in the record to show that Harmony Blue concealed any defects in the mausoleum or the fact that it did not have a license.
We should also point out that T.C.A. 48-25-101)(b)(6) provides an exception to the requirement of a certificate of authority to transact business in Tennessee if the order requires, as it did in the case at bar, acceptance outside the state before one becomes a "contractor." Moreover, T.C.A. 48-25-102(f) provides that "the failure of a foreign corporation to obtain a certificate of authority does not impair the validity of its corporate acts or prevent it from defending any proceeding in this state."
For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the Trial Court is affirmed and the cause remanded for collection of costs below. Costs of appeal are adjudged against Plaintiffs William F. Conley and his wife Betty Jo Conley and their surety.
Page 1 2 Tennessee Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|