eNotes: Liability – August 2024 – Washington, DC

SIGNIFICANT CASE SUMMARIES

Washington, DC Case Summary

Tovar v. Regan Zambri Long, PLLC
D.C. Court of Appeals
No. 23-CV-0165

Decided: June 27, 2024

Court provides clarity on the meaning of COVID-19 tolling orders.

Background

Plaintiff, Tovar, brought a legal malpractice action against Defendant, Regan Zambri Long PLLC. Defendant represented Plaintiff in an underlying negligence case against a multi-national corporation for injuries sustained in a car accident with an employee of that corporation. The underlying negligence action settled while on appeal, following a favorable verdict for Plaintiff. After that settlement, Plaintiff sued his former attorney for legal malpractice. Plaintiff asserted that Defendant failed to make a claim for future medical expenses, and further failed to inform Plaintiff of the decision not to pursue such damages. Under the District of Columbia’s three-year statute of limitations period, Plaintiff’s legal malpractice claim accrued on May 7, 2019. Plaintiff filed his legal malpractice Complaint against Defendant on May 9, 2022.

Defendant moved to dismiss and/or for the entry of summary judgment. Defendant chiefly argued that Plaintiff’s claims were time-barred because they were filed beyond the three-year statute of limitations for negligence actions. Plaintiff countered that the Superior Court’s COVID-19 Orders tolled the statute of limitations period. The Trial Court sided with Plaintiff on that issue, but granted Defendant’s Motion on other grounds. Plaintiff appealed and Defendant cross-appealed relative to the statute of limitations ruling.

Holding

While the D.C. Court of Appeals ultimately agreed with Plaintiff that the claim was timely filed, it did not do so pursuant to the COVID-19 Tolling Orders. Providing clarity as to the meaning of such Tolling Orders, the Court indicated that the same did not extend Plaintiff’s statute of limitations period. The COVID-19 Tolling Orders “tolled the limitations period only in cases where the limitations period expired during the March 18, 2020, to March 31, 2021 emergency period.” The plain meaning of the Chief Judges’ Tolling Orders meant that deadlines were only extended for periods of limitations “that would otherwise expire before March 30, 2021.” Since Plaintiff’s statute of limitations period expired on May 9, 2022, it fell outside the window in which it would receive the benefit of the COVID-19 tolling. This ruling clarifies that all statutes of limitations periods were not “paused” under the Tolling Orders (as Plaintiff had argued). Rather, only limitations periods expiring within the emergency period were tolled.

Questions about this case can be directed to Meredith Bestland at (443) 641-0560 or mbestland@tthlaw.com.