Bellotto v. Ski Roundtop, Inc.

797 F. Supp. 315, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12175, 1992 WL 193284
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 27, 1992
DocketNo. 92 CIV. 0458 (CLB)
StatusPublished

This text of 797 F. Supp. 315 (Bellotto v. Ski Roundtop, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bellotto v. Ski Roundtop, Inc., 797 F. Supp. 315, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12175, 1992 WL 193284 (S.D.N.Y. 1992).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BRIEANT, Chief Judge.

In this diversity personal injury case regulated by New York Law, plaintiff has discontinued voluntarily as against all defendants except Ski Windham Operating Corp. The sole remaining defendant now moves for summary judgment in its favor pursuant Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 on the ground that the action is barred by the statute of limitations. Alternative relief which need not concern us also is sought in the motion.

Mr. Bellotto sues to recover damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained on January 21, 1989 as a result of a skiing accident at defendant’s premises located at Windham, in Greene County, New York.

The summons and verified complaint were filed in the Office of the Clerk of the Southern District of New York on January 21,1992, on the last day prior to the expiration of the applicable three year limitations period under New York law. Service was effected on the defendant more than three years after the claim accrued. Such service was effected by delivery of the summons and complaint to the Secretary of State at Albany, New York on January 27, 1992, 6 days after the applicable Statute of Limitations had expired.

The sole issue on the motion is whether under the circumstances of this case the plaintiff may receive the benefit of New York C.P.L.R. § 203(b)(5), which provides a limited 60 day tolling period if the provisions of that statute are satisfied.

The sole remaining defendant is a New York corporation having its sole place of business in the Town of Windham, County of Greene, State of New York, where the claim arose. It does not conduct business anywhere else, and its officers, directors and persons authorized to accept service of process are not located or regularly found within the eight counties comprising the Southern District of New York, the County of Greene having been removed by Congress from this district in 1975. That one of them might conceivably be served with process within the Southern District because of a transitory passage on some fortuitous occasion, may be assumed, but is not considered relevant by the Court.

Section 203(b)(5) of the New York C.P.L.R. provides in relevant part for a tolling period of 60 days when:

“5. The summons is delivered to the sheriff of that county outside the city of New York or is filed with the clerk of that county within the city of New York in which the defendant resides, is employed or is doing business, or if none of the foregoing is known to the plaintiff after reasonable inquiry, then of the county in which the defendant is known to have last resided, been employed or been engaged in business, or in which the cause of action arose; or if the defendant is a corporation, of a county in which it may be served or in which the cause of action arose; provided that; (i) the summons is served upon the defendant within sixty days after the period of limitation would have expired but for this provision; or____” (emphasis added).

Essentially, defendant argues and this Court agrees, that plaintiff is not entitled to the tolling benefits of § 203(b)(5) of the New York C.P.L.R. because the summons was not filed with the Clerk of the United States District Court of the Northern District of New York.

In Gold v. Jeep Corporation, 579 F.Supp. 256 (E.D.N.Y.1984) (Altimari, J.), the Court held that:

“... we find that service of the summons upon the clerk of this Court is equivalent to service upon the County Clerk of the several counties within this district, in-[317]*317eluding Suffolk County. There is one Eastern District of New York serviced by two courthouses, either of which may be utilized for the commencement of actions in filing of papers. The clerk of the court is, for our purposes, the clerk for all counties within the district notwithstanding that through financial and other restraints he is not located physically within these counties.” Id. at 258.

The holding in Gold has been read literally by most district courts in this circuit and was cited with approval by our Court of Appeals in Datskow, infra. In Levy v. Pyramid Co. of Ithaca, 687 F.Supp. 48 (N.D.N.Y.1988), aff'd, 871 F.2d 9 (2d Cir.1989), the court considered whether filing in the District Court of Maryland, in a case thereafter transferred to the Northern District of New York for want of in person-am jurisdiction in Maryland, would confer the benefits of § 203(b)(5). Chief Judge McCurn held:

“As Pyramid correctly points out, though, that statute has not been interpreted to allow plaintiff the benefits thereunder unless the complaint is filed with the district court clerk located in the county where defendant resides, is employed or is doing business, etc. (citing cases). Here, Pyramid does not reside in Maryland, nor does it do business there. In addition, the cause of action did not arise there. Plaintiffs are, therefore, not entitled to the benefit of § 203(b)(5)”. Levy, 687 F.Supp. at 53 (emphasis in original).

The action in Levy was dismissed as time barred. In Young v. Clantech, Inc., 863 F.2d 300 (3rd Cir.1988), mandamus denied, 489 U.S. 1009, 109 S.Ct. 1179, 103 L.Ed.2d 245 (1989), cited with approval by the Second Circuit in Levy, the court, applying New Jersey law, held that “the timely filing of a case in a court which lacks personal jurisdiction over a defendant does not toll the statute of limitations”. Young, 863 F.2d at 301 (emphasis in original).

In Personis v. Oiler, 889 F.2d 424 (2d Cir.1989), our Court of Appeals (Newman, C.J.) held that § 203(b)(5) of the New York C.P.L.R. applies to a diversity case and was complied with literally and effectively by delivery of the summons and complaint in that case to the Sheriff of Herkimer County. The Court of Appeals expressed no view as to whether alternative procedure would allow federal marshals or federal court clerks to fill the roles specified for county sheriffs and county clerks in the statute, but cited a number of cases, including Levy, supra, and Gold, supra, which had reached that conclusion.

In Personis the Court of Appeals also held that state statutes of limitations govern the timeliness of state law claims under federal diversity jurisdiction, and that state law also determines the related questions of what events serve to commence an action and to toll the statute of limitations, citing Walker v. Armco Steel Corp., 446 U.S. 740, 100 S.Ct. 1978, 64 L.Ed.2d 659 (1980). This rule, which is an offshoot of Erie, is of constitutional magnitude. Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965); Guaranty Trust Co. v. New York, 326 U.S. 99, 65 S.Ct. 1464, 89 L.Ed.

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Related

Erie Railroad v. Tompkins
304 U.S. 64 (Supreme Court, 1938)
Guaranty Trust Co. v. York
326 U.S. 99 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp.
337 U.S. 541 (Supreme Court, 1949)
Hanna v. Plumer
380 U.S. 460 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Walker v. Armco Steel Corp.
446 U.S. 740 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Datskow v. Teledyne
899 F.2d 1298 (Second Circuit, 1990)
Guaranty Trust Co. v. York
326 U.S. 99 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Levy v. Pyramid Co. of Ithaca
687 F. Supp. 48 (N.D. New York, 1988)
Gold v. Jeep Corp.
579 F. Supp. 256 (E.D. New York, 1984)
Arce v. Sybron Corp.
82 A.D.2d 308 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1981)
Greenman v. United States
109 S. Ct. 1179 (Supreme Court, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
797 F. Supp. 315, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12175, 1992 WL 193284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bellotto-v-ski-roundtop-inc-nysd-1992.