Mitchell v. The Timbers
Decision Date | 13 October 1999 |
Citation | 163 Or. App. 312,987 P.2d 1236 |
Parties | Steven N. MITCHELL, Appellant, v. THE TIMBERS, Respondent. |
Court | Oregon Court of Appeals |
Warren John West, Bend, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.
Robert L. Nash, Bend, argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent.
Before De MUNIZ, Presiding Judge, and HASELTON and WOLLHEIM, Judges.
De MUNIZ, P.J.
Plaintiff appeals from the trial court's judgment dismissing this personal injury action with prejudice. We reverse.
Plaintiff was injured on November 17, 1995 when he was assaulted by two patrons in The Timbers, a tavern in Bend. On April 2, 1997, plaintiff filed a complaint, seeking damages for negligence, that named "THE TIMBERS" as the only defendant. The Timbers (defendant) is an assumed business name, see ORS 648.005(1), registered to Stanley Sanglier. 1 The summons, directed to "STANLEY SANGLIER, THE TIMBERS, DEFENDANT[,]" and complaint were served on Sanglier on April 15, 1997. Plaintiff subsequently filed an amended complaint that increased the amount of damages. On May 22, 1998, defendant filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, lack of jurisdiction over the person, insufficiency of summons or service of summons or process, failure to join a party under ORCP 29 and failure to state ultimate facts sufficient to constitute a claim. See generally ORCP 21 A. The gist of defendant's motion to dismiss was that plaintiff had failed to name as defendant an entity capable of being sued. The parties had corresponded and had begun discovery between the time the complaint was filed and the time defendant's ORCP 21 A motion to dismiss was filed. On June 5, 1998, plaintiff filed a motion for leave to file a second amended complaint that named as defendants: The proposed second amended complaint alleged that at all material times Sanglier
The trial court denied plaintiff's motion for leave to file the second amended complaint and granted defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's first amended complaint. It reasoned that the action was not commenced against Sanglier within the statute of limitations, ORS 12.020, and that plaintiff's proposed amendment could not relate back to the action to avoid the statute of limitations. See ORCP 23 C. On appeal, plaintiff assigns error to the court's ruling granting defendant's motion to dismiss and the denial of plaintiff's motion to file a second amended complaint.
Plaintiff's principal argument on appeal is that ORCP 23 C allows the filing of an amended complaint after a statute of limitations has run if it relates back to an original filing made before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Plaintiff asserts that Sanglier had notice of the action before the statute of limitations expired. ORCP 23 C provides:
See also Welch v. Bancorp Management Advisors, 296 Or. 208, 223, 675 P.2d 172 (1983)
(. )
rev. den. 319 Or. 149, 877 P.2d 86 (1994) ( ).
Plaintiff argues that the focus of ORCP 23 C is notice to the defendant of the plaintiff's claim before the expiration of the statute of limitations. He asserts that, because it is undisputed that Sanglier received notice of the claim within the statute of limitations and has not been prejudiced by plaintiff's failure to name him as a defendant, we should reverse the trial court's dismissal of the action and allow the second amended complaint to be filed.
rev. den. 299 Or. 31, 698 P.2d 964 (1985) ( ).
In reviewing the granting of a motion to dismiss, we assume the truth of all allegations, as well as any inferences that may be drawn, and view them in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Jaqua v. Nike, Inc., 125 Or.App. 294, 296, 865 P.2d 442 (1993). When the motion is granted based on the expiration of the statute of limitations, our review is limited to what appears on the face of the pleading. See id. Regarding the related motion to amend the complaint, we review the trial court's decision for abuse of discretion. Jones v. Lachman, 96 Or.App. 246, 249, 773 P.2d 1, rev. den. 308 Or. 184, 776 P.2d 1291 (1989).
As noted above, defendant's assertion that the proposed second amended complaint does not relate back rests on the proposition that a complaint naming a defendant that is not a living person or a legal entity capable of being sued does not actually commence an action. Robinson, the case on which defendants rely, did indeed stand for that proposition:
Robinson, 81 Or. at 29, 158 P. 268 (citations omitted).
However, Robinson was decided well before the modern rule of procedure found in ORCP 23 C. In Smith v. Wells, 128 Or.App. 492, 876 P.2d 850 (1994), we noted as much, concluding that, since Robinson was decided, the courts have followed "a legislatively directed trend away from strict construction of pleadings." Id. at 498, 876 P.2d 850, quoting Adams v. Oregon State Police, 289 Or. 233, 240, 611 P.2d 1153 (1980)
.
Robinson is analytically irreconcilable with case law applying ORCP 23 C to situations where a defendant has been misnamed in a complaint. In Harmon v. Meyer, 146 Or. App. 295, 933 P.2d 361 (1997), we addressed the proper application of ORCP 23 C to situations where a defendant has been misnamed in a complaint. In Harmon, the plaintiff named as a defendant "Interlake, Inc., a Delaware Corporation." At the time the complaint was filed there was no such entity as Interlake, Inc., operating in Oregon. Id. at 297, 933 P.2d 361. The plaintiff properly served his complaint on the entity he intended to sue, but that entity's actual name was "The Interlake Companies, Inc." Id. The trial court ruled that...
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