Pasley v. Biggs (In re Pasley)

596 B.R. 577
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 24, 2019
DocketCase No. 16-33769; AP No. 17-3075
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 596 B.R. 577 (Pasley v. Biggs (In re Pasley)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pasley v. Biggs (In re Pasley), 596 B.R. 577 (Ky. 2019).

Opinion

D. Statute of Limitations

The Court will next turn to the statute of limitations defense. As mentioned above, the Defendants argue that the state law claims asserted by the Plaintiff should be dismissed because this action was not timely commenced. Specifically, because the summons and complaint were not served within the limitations period, the Defendants argue the claims must be dismissed.4 The Defendants cite KRS 413.140(1)(a) and (d) and 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d) in support of their argument. Here, because the Judgment Lien was recorded on December 15, 2016, pursuant to KRS 413.140(1)(a) and (d) as well as 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d), this action should have been filed no later than December 15, 2017.5

Defendants admit that Plaintiff did file this action on December 13, 2017, within the statute of limitations. However, the initial attempt to serve was initiated on December 26, 2017, eleven days after the statute of limitations ran. Moreover, due to *582the Plaintiff's failure to timely serve the summons and complaint, the original summons was quashed by Court order. While a new summons was issued on January 30, 2018, these summons were not served until January 31, 2018, forty-seven days after the running of the statute of limitations. Defendants cited Gibson v. EPI Corp. , 940 S.W.2d 912 (Ky. App. 1997) and Whittinghill v. Smith , 562 S.W.2d 649, 650-651 (Ky. App. 1977) in support of their argument.

In the case of Gibson v. EPI Corp. , a plaintiff brought a premises liability action against a building owner and provider of security services. 940 S.W.2d 912, 912 (Ky. App. 1997). On the date that the suit was filed, the clerk's office issued a summons. The plaintiff's counsel then accepted the summons and retained it himself. Id. at 912-13. Notably, settlement negotiations were ongoing when Plaintiffs' counsel retained the summons. Two and one-half months after the limitations period had expired, when no settlement had been reached, the summons was served. Id. at 913. The Kentucky Court of Appeals found that the "intention to go forward with the service of process was not reached until the limitation period had expired and thus the action was not commenced within the limitation period." Id.

Judge McKinley dealt with a similar issue in the case of CPC Livestock, LLC v. Fifth Third Bank, Inc. , 495 B.R. 332 (W.D. Ky. 2013). In that case, no summons was issued until twenty-eight days after the two-year limitations period. As such, the defendant sought dismissal under the same argument presented by the Defendants in this action. The plaintiff in that action answered this argument by stating he waited to have the summons issued until an amended complaint could be filed, thereby saving time and resources.

Judge McKinley denied the defendant's request for dismissal holding as follows:

CR 3.01 states that a "civil action is commenced by the filing of a complaint with the court and the issuance of a summons or warning order thereon in good faith." CR 3.01. "The rule seems to be that if, when the summons was issued, the plaintiff had a bona fide, unequivocal intention of having it served presently or in due course or without abandonment, the summons was issued in good faith." Roehrig v. Merchs. & Businessmen's Mut. Ins. Co. , 391 S.W.2d 369, 371 (Ky.1965). Good faith "can be, and usually is, something less than perfection or complete accuracy," and above all, "it means not to take advantage of, not to deceive, not to be underhanded." Id. at 370. In this case, Plaintiffs' counsel accepted the issued summonses and retained them. According to counsel, this was done because Plaintiffs contemplated that an amended complaint would be filed and counsel wanted to avoid spending time and resources serving two complaints in a short period of time. The Court finds that these facts fail to show that the summonses were not issued in good faith.

CPC Livestock, LLC v. Fifth Third Bank, Inc. , 495 B.R. 332, 344 (W.D. Ky.,2013).

Judge McKinley easily distinguished his case from the Gibson case. He found the plaintiffs in his case possessed the requisite intent to serve the summonses in due course. The court could not find that the plaintiffs ever intended to abandon service. CPC Livestock at 344. Unlike the plaintiff in Gibson , who held the summons so as to not disrupt settlement negotiations, the plaintiffs in the CPC Livestock case were not trying to take advantage of the defendants but were instead trying to save costs. Under those facts, the court could not find a lack of good faith.

*583In their post trial briefing, the Defendants assert that Judge McKinley's decision was "simply wrong." Moreover, the Defendants assert that a Kentucky court would have decided the case differently. This Court does not agree with the Defendants' assertions. A Kentucky court has also dealt with this specific issue.

A similar result was reached in the case of Ramirez v. Com. ex rel. Brooks , 44 S.W.3d 800

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
596 B.R. 577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pasley-v-biggs-in-re-pasley-kywb-2019.