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Nett v. Bellucci9/4/2002
ading. See Mass. R. Civ. P. 15 (c), 365 Mass. 761 (1974). Thus, under the rules, an action against such a party added by amendment is "commenced" on the date that the original complaint was filed.
However, we have already determined that that literal application of the rules would be contrary to the purposes underlying a statute of repose, and have thus, for statute of repose purposes only, rejected the date of commencement that the rules normally prescribe for related claims and parties added by amendment. Tindol v. Boston Hous. Auth., 396 Mass. 515, 519 (1986). In that case, we held that a plaintiff could not amend a complaint to add an architect and an engineer as defendants after the expiration of the repose period imposed by G.áL. c. 260, á2B -- a statute of repose governing torts related to construction projects -- even though the original complaint was timely filed. See id. We fashioned an exception to rule 15 (c), explaining that to allow amended pleadings for claims subject to a statute of repose to relate back to the original pleading "would have the effect of reactivating a cause of action that the Legislature obviously intended to eliminate." Id., quoting James Ferrera & Sons v. Samuels, 21 Mass. App. Ct. 170, 173 (1985). Thus, where the literal application of one of our rules of civil procedure would yield a result contrary to the purposes underlying statutes of repose, we refused to recognize the date of commencement provided by the rules.
Because rule 15 (c) cannot operate in these circumstances to establish the date of commencement as the date of filing of the original complaint, the defendant contends that we should instead apply the literal wording of Mass. R. Civ. P. 3, as amended, 385 Mass. 1215 (1982), which provides in pertinent part that " civil action is commenced by (1) mailing to the clerk of the proper court by certified or registered mail a complaint and an entry fee prescribed by law, or (2) filing such complaint and an entry fee with such clerk." Under the defendant's reading of the rule, the plaintiffs did not "commence " their action until they filed their amended complaint on April 26, 1999, one month after the expiration of the repose period.
The defendant's argument applies rule 3 to a context it was not meant to govern. Because rule 15á(c) provides its own definition of when an amended complaint "commence " an action, the rule 3 definition of when an action "commence " is not meant to refer to the date of "mailing" or "filing" an amended complaint. Rule 15 (c) was intended to govern actions brought by way of amendment, and rule 3, by its literal wording (with its references to the "entry fee") plainly does not. Thus, rather than apply the literal wording of rule 3 to a situation for which it was not intended or designed, we must determine which step in the process of amending a complaint most resembles the filing of an original complaint, and whether treating that step as the commencement of the action would be consistent with the purposes underlying the statutes of repose. For the following reasons, we conclude that it is the filing of the motion for leave to amend, not the later filing of the amended complaint after that motion is allowed, that best satisfies those criteria.
The original filing of a complaint that "commence " an action under rule 3 is the first document that a plaintiff files in court, comprising the first official step in bringing an action against a defendant. No prior permission of the court is required, and no prior step involving the court need be taken. As such, the plaintiff has unilateral control over when the original complaint is filed, and the plaintiff is responsible for seeing to it that that step "c
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