Judge Robert E. Payne of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, denied a motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations filed by property carrier First Liberty against its insured. John Rasmussen of the Insurance Recovery Law Group, PLC, defended the insured against that motion, which addressed an issue of first impression under Virginia insurance and procedural law.
A two-year statute applies to property insurance claims in Virginia. The insured filed a lawsuit seeking money damages and declaratory relief for a fire, but more than two years after it happened. The insured, however, had earlier filed and nonsuited an action to appoint an appraisal umpire in Hanover Circuit Court. And she refiled the damages claim within six months of that nonsuit.
This issue has received significant attention recently, after a Virginia Circuit Court judge did not apply the tolling statute to a second suit because it sought a different amount of damages. As noted above, this decision rejected that approach.