Reed v. Sweeney

MOYLAN, Judge. The appellant, Bennie P. Reed, filed a personal injury action against the appellees, Gary Sweeney, et al., on September 17, 1982, in the Circuit Court for Charles County for ²³⁴ injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident with the appellees’ vehicle on October 15, 1979. As permitted by-Maryland Rule 104(b)(2), at the time he filed the action, appellant’s counsel requested that the clerk’s office forward the summons to him for service by registered mail. The summons was received by the attorney on September 28, 1982, at which time he mailed the summons and declaration via certified mail-return receipt requested.

On October 14, 1982, appellant’s counsel received the summons and declaration from the post office with the notation “Return to Sender — Unclaimed.” On October 20, 1982, appellant’s counsel received a letter from the appellees’ present counsel, indicating that his office had been retained to represent appellees “when properly served with process.” Appellees’ counsel stated that he would not enter his appearance until his potential clients were properly served. A similar letter was sent on November 22, 1982. Thereafter, although it appears that appellant’s counsel was pursuing negotiations with appellees’ insurance company (which had received a copy of the “suit papers” through general delivery), no further action was taken to have the appellees properly served with process until February, 1983. Purportedly prompted by a breakdown in the settlement discussions, reissuance of the summons and declaration was requested of the clerk’s office and the papers were issued to the sheriff’s department for service on February 17, 1983.

Service was effected on March 4, 1983, at the very address noted in the original issuance of process, which had been returned “unclaimed.” After the case was transferred from Charles County to Prince George’s County, appellees filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, asserting the statute of limitations. They claimed that appellant’s filing of the declaration on September 17, 1982, and subsequent efforts at service of process did not toll the running of the statute of limitations so as to permit the subsequent service of process on March 4, 1983 to be effective. Relying upon Neel v. Webb Fly Screen ²³⁵ Mfg. Co., 187 Md. 34 , 48 A.2d 331 (1946) and Piersma v. Seitz, 10 Md.App. 439 , 271 A.2d 199 (1970), aff'd 262 Md. 61 , 276 A.2d 666 (1971), they contended that it was necessary for appellant’s counsel to have sent the summons out for an additional attempt at service when he received it “unclaimed.” They argued that absent this second attempt, the statute, temporarily suspended, came back into effect and that the subsequent reissuance of process and ultimate service of March 4, 1983 was, therefore, fatally late.

Following a hearing before Judge David Gray Ross on May 15, 1984, appellees’ Motion for Summary Judgment was granted and judgment was entered in their favor. The instant appeal timely followed. We approach this analysis by noting the words of the Supreme Court in Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson, 325 U.S. 304, 314 , 65 S.Ct. 1137, 1142 , 89 L.Ed. 1628 (1945): “Statutes of limitation find their justification in necessity and convenience rather than in logic. They represent expedients, rather than principles.

They are practical and pragmatic devices to spare the courts from litigation of stale claims, and the citizen from being put to his defense after memories have faded, witnesses have died or disappeared, and evidence has been lost.... (Citation omitted).” Cited in Walko Corp. v. Burger Chef Systems, 281 Md. 207, 210 , 378 A.2d 1100, 1101 (1977). Consistent with this spirit of the Supreme Court, the Maryland cases make clear that a statute of limitations is designed to protect a potential defendant from “surprise” actions which inhibit his ability to fashion a defense because of the litigation’s temporal distance from the disputed occurrence. The statute does not: “... extend to situations where, in the words of Justice Holmes, ‘... a defendant has had notice from the beginning that the plaintiff sets up and is trying to enforce a claim against it because of specified conduct...’ (New York Central RR v. Kinney, 260 U.S. 340, 346 [43 S.Ct. ²³⁶ 122, 123, 67 L.Ed. 294 ].” Doughty v. Prettyman, 219 Md. 83, 93 , 148 A.2d 438 (1959).

The Maryland statute of limitations here pertinent (found in Courts Article, Section 5-101) requires that a civil action at law be commenced within three years from the date the claim accrues. Thus, in the instant case, the appellant was required under the statute to commence his suit on or before October 15, 1982. That commencement requirement was met because “impetration of the original suit is deemed the commencement of the suit,” Piersma, supra, at 10 Md.App. 441 , 271 A.2d 199 , and the appellant’s declaration was filed on September 17, 1982. Once the action is timely filed, service of process is instituted and, normally, service is effected in a timely manner.

Where, however, the initial attempt at service is unsuccessful, certain procedures are required to be followed in order for the plaintiff to retain the benefits accruing from the original timely filing. Cases such as Neel and Piersma dealt