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Macias v. Jaramillo8/15/2000
The issue in this appeal is whether a plaintiff who files an action seeking recovery against an estate loses her cause of action if she has not joined a duly appointed personal representative of the dead person's estate before the statute of limitations has run.
Plaintiff Linda Macias filed a complaint on May 14, 1998, against James Jaramillo and Joe C. Jaramillo, Jr. (the Jaramillos), as personal representatives of the estate of Joe C. Jaramillo, deceased (Decedent), as a result of injuries Plaintiff received when she was struck on June 7, 1995, by an automobile driven by Decedent. Decedent was the father of the Jaramillos. Plaintiff sued the Jaramillos based on a statement of James Jaramillo that the Jaramillos were the personal representatives of Decedent's estate. At the time the complaint was filed, and by the time the statute of limitations had run, neither the Jaramillos nor anyone else had, in fact, been appointed personal representative of Decedent's estate.
Plaintiff filed an amended complaint after the statute of limitations had run, naming Decedent's insurer and "John Doe" as the unknown personal representative of Decedent's estate as defendants. Because the Jaramillos had not been duly appointed as personal representatives of Decedent's estate before the statute of limitations had run against Plaintiff's claim, the district court ruled that the complaint was a nullity and that the amended complaint would not relate back. Consequently, the court dismissed Plaintiff's claim with prejudice. We determine that Plaintiff's claim is viable and reverse.
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Soon after the June 7, 1995, accident, Plaintiff's first attorney began correspondence with Decedent's insurer, State Farm, that continued into October 1996. After a year's hiatus in correspondence, Plaintiff's first attorney informed State Farm in October 1997 that he was no longer representing Plaintiff. In January 1998, Plaintiff's second attorney began correspondence with State Farm that continued into March 1998.
Decedent died in July 1997. Plaintiff first learned of Decedent's death sometime around April or May 1998, very near the June 7, 1998, statute of limitations deadline. On May 13, 1998, Plaintiff's lawyer spoke on the telephone with James Jaramillo. James told the lawyer that he and his brother Joe were the personal representatives of Decedent's estate. Upon receiving this information, on May 14, 1998, Plaintiff filed her complaint naming as defendants the Jaramillos as personal representatives of their father's estate. On May 15, 1998, Plaintiff's lawyer sent State Farm a copy of Plaintiff's complaint with a letter that stated: "With your permission, I spoke with James Jaramillo about who was the personal representative of his father's estate and he replied it was him and his brother." James was himself a State Farm insurance agent.
The Jaramillos were served on May 29, 1998. They did not file an answer. Rather, on February 23, 1999, some nine months after the complaint was filed, and after the three-year statute of limitations deadline in NMSA 1978, ยง 37-1-8 (1976) had passed on June 7, 1998, they filed their motion to dismiss. Apparently, settlement discussions, including discussions regarding possible mediation, took place in the interim.
The Jaramillos based their February 23 motion to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that they were not the personal representatives of Decedent's estate, the complaint did not name a true legal entity and no controversy existed giving the court subject matter jurisdiction, and the claim was barred by the statute of limitations. This caused Plaintiff to file a first amended complaint on F
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