 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Reque v. Monteagle Truck Plaza9/20/1999
This is an appeal from the final judgment of the Circuit Court of Franklin County, Chancellor Jeffrey F. Stewart sitting by interchange, granting defendants'/appellees' motion to dismiss for failure of the plaintiffs/appellants to timely file their tort claims within the one-year statute of limitations, Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104. The Trial Court rejected plaintiffs' argument that Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-105, one of the Tennessee "saving statutes," preserved their cause of action first filed in a Wisconsin state court, dismissed by the Wisconsin state court for lack of jurisdiction over the defendants after the Tennessee statute of limitations had expired, and then filed in Tennessee. The issue raised by plaintiffs is whether Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-105 operates to save a cause of action first brought in a foreign state court, dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, and subsequently filed in a Tennessee court within one year of the dismissal, but outside the one-year statute of limitations of Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104. For the reasons herein stated, we affirm the Trial Court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaint.
FACTS
The plaintiffs, Wisconsin residents, on June 15, 1997 took their motorhome to a truck stop in Franklin County, Tennessee to have repairs performed. While the motorhome was on the property of defendant Monteagle Truck Plaza, Inc. ("Monteagle"), Ms. Reque entered the vehicle and began to change clothes in a rear compartment. During this time an employee of Monteagle, defendant Jimmy Stiles, moved the motorhome, which allegedly caused Ms. Reque to fall inside the vehicle and sustain personal injuries. The claims of Mr. Reque are derivative thereof.
On June 9, 1998, plaintiffs filed suit for damages relating to the above-referenced personal injuries in the Circuit Court for Outagamie County, Wisconsin just six days before the one-year anniversary of the incident at issue. On September 2, 1998, the Wisconsin Trial Court dismissed the cause of action for lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
On October 2, 1998 plaintiffs filed suit for the same injuries in the Circuit Court for Franklin County, Tennessee. By Order filed December 21, 1998, Chancellor Stewart held that the plaintiffs' claims were barred by the one year statute of limitations and dismissed the plaintiffs' suit, over the assertion by plaintiffs that the Tennessee savings statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 28-1-105, preserved their right to bring the action in the Tennessee court. Plaintiffs then appealed to this Court.
DISCUSSION
Our standard of review on appeal from a trial court's grant of a motion to dismiss is de novo, with no presumption of correctness as to the trial court's legal Conclusions, and all allegations of fact in the complaint below are taken as true. Stein v. Davidson Hotel Co., 945 S.W.2d 714, 716 (Tenn. 1997). There is no dispute concerning the facts material to the Trial Court's holding.
In support of their motion to dismiss, defendants cited to the Trial Court the cases of Elias v. A & C Distributing Company, Inc., 588 S.W.2d 768 (Tenn. App. 1979), Sigler v. Youngblood Truck Lines, 149 F.Supp. 61 (D.C. Tenn. 1957) and Graham v. Ferguson, 593 F.2d 764 (6th Cir. 1979). The Trial Court found, and we agree, that the holding in Elias controls under the facts of this case.
An abbreviated statement of the facts in Elias shows the underlying cause as an automobile accident in Davidson County, Tennessee on May 21, 1976; plaintiffs, residents of Illinois and Canada, filed suit against the defendants, Tennessee residents, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois on May 12, 1977; the complaint was dismissed b
Page 1 2 3 4 Tennessee Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
By using the system, you agree to TERMS OF SERVICE
|