ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2782
(By Delegates Staton, Amores, McGraw,
Beane, Wills, Keener and R. Thompson)
[Passed April 14, 2001; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section eighteen, article two, chapter
fifty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to actions and suits
at law; and providing that an action dismissed as a result of
process not having been served is not a dismissal on the
merits.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eighteen, article two, chapter fifty-five of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. LIMITATION OF ACTIONS AND SUITS.
§55-2-18. Extension of period for new action after dismissal or
reversal where the action is timely filed.
(a) For a period of one year from the date of an order
dismissing an action or reversing a judgment, a party may re-file
the action if the initial pleading was timely filed and (i) the
action was involuntarily dismissed for any reason not based upon
the merits of the action or (ii) the judgment was reversed on a
ground which does not preclude a filing of new action for the same
cause.
(b) For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, a
dismissal not based upon the merits of the action includes, but is
not limited to:
(1) A dismissal for failure to post an appropriate bond;
(2) A dismissal for loss or destruction of records in a former
action; or
(3) A dismissal for failure to have process timely served,
whether or not the party is notified by the court of the pending
dismissal.