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Grunwald v. Bronkesh3/22/1993
The opinion of the court was delivered by
CLIFFORD, J.
This appeal requires the Court to decide when the statute of limitations begins to run on a legal-malpractice action. The trial court held that the six-year statute of limitations on plaintiff's malpractice claim had begun to run when the trial court decided against plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit. The Appellate Division reversed, concluding that the statute had started to run only after the appellate process had been completed in the underlying lawsuit. Grunwald v. Bronkesh, 254 N.J. Super. 530, 540, 604 A.2d 126 (1992). We granted certification, 130 N.J. 9 (1992), and now reverse.
I
Plaintiff, Abraham Grunwald, engaged the services of defendant Noah Bronkesh and his law firm, defendant Sills Cummis Zuckerman Radin Tischman Epstein and Gross (Sills Cummis), to negotiate an option agreement for the sale of certain real property in Atlantic City to Resorts International Hotel and Casino, Inc. (Resorts). Bronkesh prepared an option agreement and attached a contract of sale for Resorts' approval. Resorts signed the option agreement, but instead of initialing the attached contract to indicate acceptance of its form, Resorts signed the contract as well.
Grunwald alleges that Bronkesh did not ask Resorts why it had signed the sales agreement. Rather, Bronkesh advised Grunwald that by signing the agreement Resorts had entered into an enforceable contract to buy the property. Grunwald claims that in reliance on Bronkesh's advice, he bypassed another opportunity to develop the property. Resorts never exercised its option to buy the property.
Acting on Bronkesh's advice, Grunwald retained another law firm and in April 1984 sued Resorts for specific performance of the sale contract or, in the alternative, compensatory damages for breach of contract. On July 31, 1984, the Chancery Division held the sale agreement unenforceable because Resorts had not intended to purchase the property. The court also concluded that Grunwald had not acted reasonably in relying on Resorts' signature as evidencing its intent to be bound by the contract of sale.
Plaintiff then hired a third attorney, referred to him by Sills Cummis, who advised him to appeal. Grunwald did so, and the Appellate Division, on November 20, 1985, affirmed the Chancery Division judgment in favor of Resorts.
With the assistance of now his fourth attorney, plaintiff brought this legal-malpractice action on September 28, 1990, more than six years after the Chancery Division's decision. Plaintiff claims that defendants erroneously informed him that Resorts had exercised its option to purchase the property when it signed the sales agreement. He alleges that in reliance on defendants' legal Conclusion, he did not pursue an alternative development proposal for the land, and that he has incurred substantial legal fees in litigation against Resorts. Furthermore, Grunwald contends that neither his trial attorney nor appellate counsel suggested that he had a possible cause of action against Bronkesh and the law firm.
The trial court granted summary judgment for defendants, holding that the statute of limitations, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1, barred Grunwald's action. Applying the discovery rule, see, e.g., Tevis v. Tevis, 79 N.J. 422, 400 A.2d 1189 (1979); Mant v. Gillespie, 189 N.J. Super. 368, 372, 460 A.2d 172 (App. Div. 1983), the court concluded that Grunwald knew or should have known that he had suffered damages attributable to defendants' negligence when he heard the oral decision of
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