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Statute Extending Statute of Limitations Does Not Extend Time for Service of Process

Where a car accident plaintiff filed suit, had service issued but not served, and then failed to have new process issued within one year from the issuance of the first service, the plaintiff could not rely on the fact that defendant received a traffic citation in the accident to extend the time within which service was required to be issued.

In Briars v. Irving, No. W2022-01159-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 22, 2023), plaintiff and defendant were involved in a car accident, and defendant was given a citation for crossing the center line of the roadway. Plaintiff filed suit within the one-year statute of limitations and had service issued on July 2, 2020, but that summons was not served. A new summons for defendant was not issued until September 3, 2021. After being served, defendant moved to dismiss, which the trial court granted and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

Tenn. R. Civ. P. 3 states that when process is issued but not served, a plaintiff must “continue the action by obtaining issuance of new process within one year from issuance of the previous process.” Here, plaintiff did not have the new process issued until well beyond one-year after the first, unserved process was issued.

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