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Newman v. Walker9/16/2005
Pursuant to Code § 8.01-229(D), a statute of limitations is tolled when a defendant uses any direct or indirect means to obstruct the filing of an action. In this case, we conclude that a defendant's affirmative misrepresentation about his identity at the scene of an automobile accident invokes this statute and tolls the running of the statute of limitations for the ensuing personal injury action if the defendant designed or intended his misrepresentation to obstruct the filing of the action. Thus, we will reverse the judgment of the circuit court sustaining a plea of the statute of limitations.
RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Sharon M. Newman allegedly sustained personal injuries on June 17, 2000 when a truck owned by Hastings Village, Inc. struck the motor vehicle she was operating. At the scene of the accident, the driver of the Hastings Village truck identified himself to a police officer as Kareem A. Brooks. Relying on that information, Newman filed a motion for judgment on June 11, 2002 against Brooks and Hastings Village. Both defendants filed grounds of defense, admitting that there was an incident involving the specified vehicles but denying that Brooks was the driver of the Hastings Village truck.
About a month after the accident, the liability insurance carrier for Hastings Village contacted Hastings Village about the accident and reported that Brooks was driving the company's vehicle. Hastings Village advised the insurance carrier that it did not employ anyone by the name of Kareem A. Brooks. Hastings Village then confronted one of its employees named William Walker, Jr., and Walker admitted that he had been driving the Hastings Village truck at the time of the accident.
In September 2003, soon after Newman had answered interrogatories and asked to depose Brooks, she learned for the first time that Brooks was not the driver of the Hastings Village truck. On October 1, 2003, the attorney for the defendants advised Newman's attorney that an investigator had found out that Walker had stolen Brooks' identification, had taken the Hastings Village truck without permission, and was driving it at the time of the accident.
With this new information, Newman moved to file an amended motion for judgment naming William Walker, Jr., as a defendant and as the driver of the Hastings Village truck. Brooks and Hastings Village admitted in their grounds of defense to the amended motion for judgment that Walker had identified himself as Brooks at the scene of the accident. After attempting unsuccessfully to serve process on Walker, Newman discovered that Walker's name was actually Leonard Walker, Jr. On February 26, 2004, the circuit court permitted Newman to change the name of the defendant-driver from William Walker, Jr., to Leonard Walker, Jr.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Newman's uninsured motorist carrier, then moved to dismiss the action pursuant to the applicable two-year statute of limitations. See Code § 8.01-243(A). Nationwide asserted that Walker was not named as a defendant in the action until January 12, 2004, more than two years after the date of the accident. Newman responded that, pursuant to the provisions of Code § 8.01-229(D), the statute of limitations was tolled during the period when Walker "falsely and fraudulently identified himself to both the plaintiff and the . . . police officer as Kareem Brooks." Walker's use of false identification in violation of Code § 18.2-204.1(B), according to Newman, obstructed her ability to file this action against the proper defendant.
Relying on Grimes v. Suzukawa, 262 Va. 330, 551 S.E.2d 644 (2001), the circuit court, in a letter opinion, concluded that Newman
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