Gonzalez ex rel. Gonzalez v. Johnson

23 Mass. L. Rptr. 262
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedOctober 20, 2007
DocketNo. MICV200602871C
StatusPublished

This text of 23 Mass. L. Rptr. 262 (Gonzalez ex rel. Gonzalez v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gonzalez ex rel. Gonzalez v. Johnson, 23 Mass. L. Rptr. 262 (Mass. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

Smith, Herman J., J.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Ramon Gonzalez (“Gonzalez”) filed this negligence action against defendants Steven Johnson, DEC-TAM Corporation, and Michael Morris, after sustaining injuries in a worksite accident in Connecticut. The defendants move to dismiss pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) on the basis that Gonzalez’s complaint is barred under Connecticut’s statute of limitations on negligence claims. Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-585. For the following reasons, the defendants’ motion is ALLOWED.

BACKGROUND

On August 29, 2004, Gonzalez was performing asbestos removal work in New Canaan, Connecticut when he fell from scaffolding and sustained injuries. At the time of the accident, he was working for Methuen Abatement Staffing, Inc., which defendant DEC-TAM Corporation (“DEC-TAM”) had engaged to conduct the asbestos removal. In his complaint Gonzalez alleges that the defendants, DEC-TAM, Steven Johnson (“Johnson”), and Michael Morris (“Morris"),1 were negligent by failing to maintain a safe construction site and by failing to comply with the safety requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Connecticut law. He brings three negligence counts and one count for loss of consortium on behalf of his children, Rosemarie Gonzalez and Randy Gonzalez.

DISCUSSION

The defendants move to dismiss Gonzalez’s complaint pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), on the basis that he failed to file his complaint within Connecticut’s two-year statute of limitations for negligence claims. Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-585. In response, Gonzalez argues that (1) Massachusetts’ three-year statute of limitations (G.L.c. 260, §2A) is applicable, and (2) nonetheless, he filed the complaint within the two-year timeframe.

Under Connecticut law, “an action is brought once the writ, summons and complaint have been served upon a defendant.” Rana v. Ritacco, 236 Conn. 330, 337 (1996). Lacasse v. Burns, 214 Conn. 464 (1990) (“an action is not ‘commenced’ until process is actually served upon the defendant”); Consolidated Motor Lines, Inc. v. M&M Transportation Co., 128 Conn. 107 (1941) (“the time when the action is regarded as having been brought is the date of service of the writ upon the defendant”). Here, Gonzalez sustained his injuries on August 29, 2004, filed his complaint with this court on August 11, 2006, and moved to extend the time for serving the defendants on October 26, 2006. Thus, if Connecticut’s statute of limitations governs, this Court must dismiss Gonzalez’s complaint for failure to serve the defendants by August 29, 2006. If. however, Massachusetts’ three-year statute of limitations controls, this Court will not dismiss Gonzalez’s complaint.

In determining the applicable statute of limitations, Massachusetts courts follow the “functional approach" set forth in New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Gourdeau Construction Co., Inc., 419 Mass. 658 (1995). In Gourdeau, the court adopted the provisions of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws, §142, as amended in 1988 (“Section 142’j. Id. at 661-64. Section 142 provides:

Whether a claim will be maintained against the defense of the statute of limitations is determined under the principles stated in §6.2 In general, unless the exceptional circumstances of the case makes such a result unreasonable:
(1) The forum will apply its own statute of limitations barring the claim.
(2) The forum will apply its own statute of limitations permitting the claim unless:
(a) maintenance of the claim would serve no substantial interest of the forum: and
(b) the claim would be barred under the statute of limitations of a state having a more significant relationship to the parties and the occurrence.

Under this standard, the court considers the choice of law question “not generally . . . but with particular reference to the statute of limitations,” and will bar a claim if it is “barred by the state which, with respect to the issue of limitations is the state of most significant relationship to the occurrence and to the parties under the principles stated in §6.”3 Gourdeau, 419 Mass. at 663. The forum state “should not entertain a claim when doing so would not advance any local interest and would frustrate the policy of a state with a closer connection with the case and whose statute of limita[264]*264tions would bar the claim.” Id. at 661, quoting Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws, §142, comment g.

Gourcleau involved a contract dispute. Id. at 662. The underlying events took place in New Hampshire, and the contract provided that it was to be governed by New Hampshire law. Id. The parties’ principal places of business were in Massachusetts, the defendant was a Massachusetts corporation, and the contract had been executed in Massachusetts. Id. The court examined these facts under Section 142 and concluded that based on the parties’ ties to Massachusetts, as well as Massachusetts’ “expressed preference that contracts be enforceable within six years,” Massachusetts’ statute of limitations should apply. Id. at 663.

In Nierman v. Hyatt Corp., 441 Mass. 693 (2004), the plaintiffs, Massachusetts residents, brought a negligence complaint after sustaining injuries at the defendant’s hotel in Texas. Id. at 693. The defendant was a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Illinois, but it owned at least one hotel in Massachusetts and regularly solicited business in the state. Id. Applying the standards set forth in Gourdeau, the court determined that while Massachusetts had “a general interest in having its residents compensated for personal injuries suffered in another State," it had “no substantial interest that would be advanced by entertaining the plaintiffs’ claims.” Id. at 697. Texas, the court decided, had “closer connections to the issue”: The alleged negligence and injuries occurred there, the hotel was located in Texas and employed Texans, and the allegedly negligent employee presumably lived in Texas. Id. Therefore, the court concluded, Texas had “the dominant interest in having its own limitations statute enforced.” Id. at 698.

In Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank v. MacDonald, 48 Mass.App.Ct. 904 (1999), the defendant, a Massachusetts resident, defaulted on promissory notes secured by commercial real estate in New Hampshire, and the plaintiff, a Massachusetts bank, foreclosed on the property. Id. at 904. The defendant challenged the action on the basis that it was barred by Massachusetts’ statute of limitations. Id. The court disagreed, holding that New Hampshire had the more significant relationship to the occurrence and parties: The foreclosure sale had been conducted under New Hampshire law, and the deficiency action involved the financing and purchase of New Hampshire property by New Hampshire trusts. Id. at 906. The court further held that “no substantial interest of Massachusetts would be adversely affected” by applying New Hampshire’s statute of limitations. Id.

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Related

Consolidated Motor Lines, Inc. v. M & M Transportation Co.
20 A.2d 621 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1941)
New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Gourdeau Construction Co.
647 N.E.2d 42 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1995)
Kahn v. Royal Insurance
429 Mass. 572 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1999)
Nierman v. Hyatt Corp.
441 Mass. 693 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2004)
Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank v. MacDonald
718 N.E.2d 404 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1999)
Lacasse v. Burns
572 A.2d 357 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1990)
Rana v. Ritacco
672 A.2d 946 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
23 Mass. L. Rptr. 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzalez-ex-rel-gonzalez-v-johnson-masssuperct-2007.