8/9/2019 Landini v. Bil-Jax
1/3
VIRGINIA
the
tf owd
r ~
k i
the
t f o w d ? I J ~
in the
t f W y o ~ l Y n Friday the 30th
ckyO January,
2015.
Neil
Landini ,
e t a l . , Appel lants ,
aga ins t
Record No.
140591
Circu i t
Court
No. CL12-062
Bil
Jax,
Inc . , e t a l . ,
Appel lees .
Upon an appeal from a
judgment rendered by the Circu i t
Court
o f
Powhatan
County.
Upon
cons ide ra t ion t the record ,
br i e f s , and
argument
of
counsel ,
the Court
i s
of
opinion
t h a t t he re
i s
no e r ro r i n the
judgment
o f
the c i r c u i t cour t .
Nei l Landini
and VACORP (co l l ec t ive ly
"Landini")
sought
to
br ing a persona l
i n ju r y ac t i o n
aga ins t B i l - J ax , Inc . , The Haulo t te
Group, and James
C.
Pemberton Corp (co l l ec t ive ly lithe
Defendants")
.
The a l l eged
i n ju r y
occurred on September 9,
2008.
On
September
2,
2010
Landini
mailed a
complaint to
the Clerk
o f
the
Circu i t Court
fo r Powhatan County with a
check
in the amount o f $344 to pay the
assoc ia t ed f i l i ng fees . The package was
rece ived
the
next day,
September 3, 2010.
On
September
9, 2010, the da te on which
the
s t a t u t e of l imi t a t ions exp i red , the Clerk informed Landini t h a t
the
check fo r the f i l i ng fee was $2
shor t . Landini mai led
a check fo r
• V CORP provides worker ' s compensat ion coverage to the Powhatan
County School Board
and
i t s employees. Landini a l leges t h a t he was
i n ju red
while performing
h i s
d u t i e s
as
an a s s i s t a n t
band
d i r e c t o r
employed by Powhatan County School Board. V CORP
asse r t s
a
r igh t
o f
subrogat ion with re spec t to any damages
r ecovered by
Landini as
a r e s u l t o f h is persona l i n ju r y su i t .
8/9/2019 Landini v. Bil-Jax
2/3
the $2
def ic iency ,
and
the
Clerk
f i l ed the
a c t i o n on
September
13,
2010.
Landini
subsequent ly
took
a
voluntary nonsui t
on
November
7,
2011
and
r e f i l e d the
ac t ion on
Apri l 2, 2012.
The
Defendants
f i l ed
p leas
in bar ,
a s s e r t i ng t ha t the s u i t
should
be dismissed as t ime-bar red because the i n i t i a l complaint
was not f i l ed with in
the two-year
s t a t u t e of
l imi t a t ions imposed
by
Code § 8.01 243(A). Afte r a hear ing ,
the
t r i a l
cour t sus t a ined the
Defendants '
pleas in bar
and
dismissed the
a c t i o n with
pre jud i ce .
Landini
subsequent ly f i l ed
a Motion to Rehear,
a t t r ibu t ing
the $2
def i c i ency
to
the
l i b ra ry
assessment col l ec t ed under Code
42.1
70.
Landini argued
t ha t the
a c t i o n was
t imely f i l e d because Code
17.1-275(A)
(13), which l i s t s
the
c l e rk ' s
fees
to
be paid
a t the
t ime of
f i l i ng , does
not requi re
payment
of the
l i b ra ry
fee . Thus,
Landini
concluded, the
Clerk should
have f i l ed the
complaint
on
September
3, 2010, the
da te
t was
received ,
desp i t e
the
$2
def i c i ency in the l i b r a r y assessment . The
t r i a l
cour t
denied
the
Motion
to
Rehear,
f ind ing
t ha t
the
l i b r a r y
fee
i s
incorpora ted in to
those
fees to be col l ec t ed by
the
c le rk a t the t ime
of
f i l i ng ,
pursuant
to Code
§ 17.1-275(0) .
Code 17.1-275(A)
(13)
l i s t s the c l e r k ' s fees
for
c i v i l
ac t ions asse r t i ng
cla ims
fo r monetary
damages, concluding wi th
the
fol lowing
requirement: liThe
fees presc r ibed
above s ha l l be
col l ec t ed upon the f i l i n g of papers fo r
the commencement
of
c i v i l
ac t ions .
Noting the absence
of
the l i b ra ry
fee among those fees
prescr ibed
above, Landini
mainta ins t ha t the l i b r a r y
fee
need
not
be
paid a t the t ime of f i l i ng . However,
Code 17.1-275(0)
commands t ha t [ i ] n accordance with 42.1-70,
the
c le rk
s ha l l
co l l ec t fees under subdiv i s ion[] A 13
to
be des igna ted
2
8/9/2019 Landini v. Bil-Jax
3/3
for publ ic
law
l i b r a r i e s . Given t h i s express i n t eg ra t ion ,
Landini ' s
argument
f a i l s .
The l i b r a ry
fee
i s
to
be
co l l e c t ed
with
the c l e r k ' s
fee assessed
under
Code §
17.1-275 A) 13),
a t
the
t ime
of
f i l i ng .
Thus,
because the l i b r a ry
fee was not tendered in
fu l l
un t i l
a f t e r
the
exp i ra t ion
of the
l imi t a t ions per iod ,
Landin i ' s
s u i t
was not t imely f i l e d .
For t h i s
reason,
we wi l l a f f i rm the judgment of the Circu i t
Court
of
Powhatan County.
This
order
s ha l l be c e r t i f i e d
to
the
s a id
c i r c u i t cour t .
A
Copy,
Teste:
Clerk
3