Silva-Wiscovich v. Weber Dental Mfg. Co., SILVA-WISCOVIC
| Decision Date | 22 December 1987 |
| Docket Number | D,No. 86-1068,SILVA-WISCOVIC,86-1068 |
| Citation | 835 F.2d 409 |
| Parties | JorgeD.S., Plaintiff, Appellant, v. The WEBER DENTAL MANUFACTURING CO., et al., Defendants, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Francisco G. Bruno, Jorge Carazo Quetglas and Sweeting, Gonzalez & Cestero, Hato Rey, P.R., on brief, for plaintiff, appellant.
Nestor Duran and McConnell Valdes Kelley Sifre Griggs & Ruiz-Suria, Hato Rey, P.R., on brief, for defendants, appellees.
Before CAMPBELL, Chief Judge, BOWNES and BREYER, Circuit Judges.
On September 19, 1982, Jorge Silva-Wiscovich, a dentist, injured his right hand when the dental chair he had bought from defendants collapsed while he was inspecting and handling the mechanism for raising and lowering the chair. On September 19, 1983, Silva-Wiscovich and his wife filed an action against defendants in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. On January 12, 1984, plaintiffs were ordered to show cause why the suit should not be dismissed since the complaint had not been served upon defendants. On January 20, 1984, plaintiffs moved for a voluntary dismissal of their action without prejudice. The dismissal was granted on January 23, 1984, and on January 18, 1985, Silva-Wiscovich alone (his marriage having been dissolved) commenced the instant action on the same grounds previously alleged.
The district court denied a joint motion by the parties for certification to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico of the question "whether the filing of an action which is subsequently voluntarily dismissed interrupts or suspends the statute of limitations." Holding that the present action was barred by operation of the applicable one-year Puerto Rico statute of limitations, the court ruled that the case of Gonzalez v. San Juan L. & T. Co., 17 P.R.R. 115 (1911), controlled. Under Gonzalez, the filing of the first action, which was later voluntarily dismissed, would not toll the running of the one-year statute of limitations, but would merely have suspended it during the period from the date the action was filed until the date it was dismissed. Thus, Silva-Wiscovich only had until midnight of the same day the first action was dismissed to bring a second action, as the first action had been filed on the very last day of the one-year period allowed by the statute of limitations.
Silva-Wiscovich appealed from the district court's judgment of dismissal. He contends that the district court erred in concluding that the rule in Gonzalez was still operative, arguing that the Gonzalez case has been overruled by...
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Ortiz v. De San Juan
...while an extrajudicial claim must be notified to the defendant if it is to have a tolling effect. Compare Silva-Wiscovich v. The Weber Dental Manufacturing Co., 835 F.2d 409 (1987) (statute of limitations was tolled by filing of suit, even when suit was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintif......
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Institute of Inno. Med. v. Lubf., Civil No. 06-1155 (DRD).
...action came to definite end." Lopez-Gonzalez v. Municipality of Comerio, 404 F.3d 548 (1st Cir.2005); Silva-Wiscovich v. Weber Dental Mfg. Co., 835 F.2d 409 (1st Cir. 1987). As previously discussed, both judgments entered by state and federal court were ultimately dismissed. IIM's state cla......
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Santiago v. Am. Airlines, Inc.
...of limitations has been tolled it will begin to run anew from the date the action comes to a definite end. Silva–Wiscovich v. Weber Dental Mfg. Co., 835 F.2d 409, 410 (1st Cir.1987). “The filing of one action does not toll the statute of limitations for all claims arising out of the same fa......
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...statute of limitations. Ramirez de Arellano v. Alvarez de Choudens, 575 F.2d 315 (1st Cir.1978); Silva-Wiscovich, D.D.S. v. The Weber Dental Manufacturing Co., 835 F.2d 409 (1st Cir.1987) (voluntary dismissal of federal action tolls statute of limitations.); Burke v. Compagnie Nationale Air......