Pitcock v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, L.L.P.

46 A.3d 586, 426 N.J. Super. 582, 2012 WL 2368614, 2012 N.J. Super. LEXIS 107
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJune 25, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 46 A.3d 586 (Pitcock v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, L.L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pitcock v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, L.L.P., 46 A.3d 586, 426 N.J. Super. 582, 2012 WL 2368614, 2012 N.J. Super. LEXIS 107 (N.J. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

SKILLMAN, J.A.D.

(retired and temporarily assigned on recall).

The issue presented by this appeal is whether the applicable New Jersey or New York statute of limitations governs an action for malicious use of process based on a lawsuit filed in New York that arose out of a dispute centered in New Yoi’k. We conclude that under the “most significant relationship” test that now controls the resolution of choice-of-law questions in tort actions, New York’s one-year limitations period for filing such a claim requires the dismissal of this action.

I.

Defendant Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, L.L.P. (the Firm) is a New York law firm with a satellite office in Newark. Plaintiff was a partner in the Firm’s New York City office who served as the head of its Intellectual Property Department.

In December 2007, the Firm terminated plaintiff based on his alleged sexual harassment of female employees in its New York City office.

Plaintiff filed an action in July 2008 in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, claiming that the Firm had defamed him by circulating false statements concerning the reasons for his termination. Shortly thereafter, the Firm filed a separate action against plaintiff, also in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, asserting claims for breach of contract and fiduciary duty, based on plaintiffs alleged improper conduct while a partner. The trial court consolidated these actions.

On October 1, 2009, the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, issued a written decision and order dismissing both actions. Plaintiffs action was dismissed primarily on the ground [585]*585that he admitted to having engaged in some of the sexually harassing conduct which formed the basis for the Firm’s alleged defamatory statements about him. The Firm’s action was dismissed primarily on the ground that it failed to allege any actual damages as a result of plaintiff’s alleged improper conduct while a partner.

On June 17, 2010, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the dismissal of both actions.

Shortly before the dismissal of his first action, plaintiff filed a second action against the Firm in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, which he amended during the pendency of the appeal from the dismissal of the first action to include claims based not only on his termination but also the Firm’s prior action against him. On May 28, 2010, the court dismissed this action on res judicata and other grounds. On January 6, 2011, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed that dismissal.

Shortly after the dismissal of his second action in the Supreme Court of New York, plaintiff filed this action in New Jersey for malicious prosecution,1 which was based on the July 2008 action filed by the Firm that the Supreme Court of New York had dismissed on October 1, 2009. When plaintiff filed this action, New York’s one-year limitation period for filing an action for malicious prosecution or abuse of process had already expired. See N.Y.C.P.L.R. § 215 (2012). However, this action would not have been time-barred under New Jersey law. See N.J.S.A 2A:14-1.

The Firm moved to dismiss this action on the ground that it was barred by the New York statute of limitations, res judicata and [586]*586the entire controversy doctrine, or in the alternative, that plaintiffs complaint failed to state a cause of action for malicious use of process. The trial court concluded in a written opinion that under choice-of-law principles, the New York one-year limitation period applied to the action, and because it was undisputed that plaintiffs complaint had been filed after expiration of that period, the court dismissed the action. The dismissal based on the New York statute of limitations made it unnecessary for the court to consider the Firm’s other grounds for dismissal.

On appeal, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in ruling that the maintainability of his cause of action should be determined by New York’s one-year limitations period. The Firm argues that the court correctly ruled that this action is barred by the New York statute of limitations and, in the alternative, that it is also barred by res judicata and the entire controversy doctrine and that the complaint fails to state a cause of action.

We conclude that this action is barred by New York’s one-year limitations period on such a cause of action. Thus, there is no need to reach the Firm’s alternative arguments for affirmance.

II.

In Heavner v. Uniroyal, Inc., 63 N.J. 130, 135-42, 305 A.2d 412 (1973), our Supreme Court rejected the common law rule that the statute of limitations of the forum state — here New Jersey— should be automatically applied and held that in appropriate circumstances a New Jersey court should apply the statute of limitations of another state with a greater interest in the litigation. Although the Court held that the causes of action asserted in Heavner were barred by the applicable statute of limitations of North Carolina, where the cause of action arose and which had the only significant interest in its disposition, the Court declined to adopt a general rule for determining the applicable statute of limitations in other circumstances. Id. at 141, 305 A.2d 412. Instead, the Court left that question open for determination in subsequent cases. Ibid.

[587]*587Thereafter, in Gantes v. Kason Corp., 145 N.J. 478, 484, 679 A.2d 106 (1996), the Court held that where New Jersey and another state with an interest in an action have conflicting statutes of limitations, our courts will apply the same “flexible ‘governmental-interest’ standard” that governs other questions of choice of substantive law, “which requires application of the law of the state with the greatest interest in resolving the particular issue that is raised in the underlying litigation.” The Court emphasized that this determination should be “made on an issue-by-issue basis.” Ibid. Thus, the state whose law determines whether an action is time-barred is not necessarily the same state whose substantive law would apply if the action is maintainable. Id. at 495-96, 679 A.2d 106.

In P.V. v. Camp Jaycee, 197 N.J. 132, 139-43, 962 A.2d 453 (2008), the Court held that the method of analysis set forth in sections 6 and 145 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Laws for identifying the state with the “most significant relationship” to the parties and issues, rather than the “governmental interest” test applied in Heavner and Gantes, should be followed in determining conflicts of law questions in tort actions. The Court observed in a footnote that “the [Second Restatement’s] most significant relationship test embodies all of the elements of the governmental interest test plus a series of other factors deemed worthy of consideration.” Id. at 132, n.

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Bluebook (online)
46 A.3d 586, 426 N.J. Super. 582, 2012 WL 2368614, 2012 N.J. Super. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pitcock-v-kasowitz-benson-torres-friedman-llp-njsuperctappdiv-2012.