MARGARETE S. MASON AND DAVID A. MASON, PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS, v. NABISCO BRANDS, INC., A-L SERVICES, INC., ET ALS., DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS, 233 N.J. Super. 263

Summary

Plaintiffs, injured woman and her husband, sought review of the lower court's dismissal of their reinstated complaint against defendants, company and snow-removal service, for injuries sustained by plaintiff injured woman when she fell on an accumulation of snow and ice. Plaintiffs claimed the reinstated complaint, dismissed pursuant to N.J. R. Civ. P. 1:13-7(a), was not subject to the defense of the statute of limitations because the defense could not have been asserted prior to the dismissal. The court looked to the difference between reinstatement of an original complaint and the filing of a subsequent complaint alleging the same cause of action which had been dismissed, but not adjudicated on the merits. Reinstatement of a complaint even after the applicable statute of limitations had run, did not give rise to a statute of limitations defense that did not exist before the dismissal because the action would revert to the pleadings at the time of the dismissal. The court held that if...