537.100. Limitation of action — effect of absence of defendant and nonsuit. — 1. Every action instituted under section 537.080 shall be commenced within three years after the cause of action shall accrue; provided, that if any defendant, whether a resident or nonresident of the state at the time any such cause of action accrues, shall then or thereafter be absent or depart from the state, so that personal service cannot be had upon such defendant in the state in any such action heretofore or hereafter accruing, the time during which such defendant is so absent from the state shall not be deemed or taken as any part of the time limited for the commencement of such action against him; and provided, that if any such action shall have been commenced within the time prescribed in this section, and the plaintiff therein take or suffer a nonsuit, or after a verdict for him the judgment be arrested, or after a judgment for him the same be reversed on appeal or error, such plaintiff may commence a new action from time to time within one year after such nonsuit suffered or such judgment arrested or reversed; and in determining whether such new action has been begun within the period so limited, the time during which such nonresident or absent defendant is so absent from the state shall not be deemed or taken as any part of such period of limitation.
2. Any service on a defendant by a plaintiff after the statute of limitations set forth in subsection 1 of this section has expired or after the expiration of any extension of the time provided to commence an action pursuant to law shall be made within one hundred eighty days of the filing of the petition. If such service is not made on a defendant within one hundred eighty days of the filing of the petition, the court shall dismiss the action against the defendant. The dismissal shall be without prejudice unless the plaintiff has previously taken or suffered a nonsuit, in which case the dismissal shall be with prejudice.
Notes of Decisions
State ex rel. Goldsworthy v. Kanatzar, 543 S.W.3d 582 (Mo. 2018).
· cites it 64× “Specifically, the doctors assert the plaintiffs' wrongful death claims are *584 time-barred by section 537.100 1 because the suit was filed after the three-year statute of limitations lapsed and the statute's savings provision is not applicable.”
Boland v. Saint Luke's Health Sys., Inc., 471 S.W.3d 703 (Mo. 2015).
· cites it 79× “Russell, Judge The issue on appeal here is whether the trial courts erred in entering judgments on the pleadings in five wrongful death lawsuits on the basis that the causes of action were time-barred by the three-year limita *705 tion in section 537.100. 1 The plaintiffs argue…”
Denton v. Soonattrukal, 149 S.W.3d 517 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).
· cites it 32× “allows members of the same class of plaintiffs to pursue only one action for wrongful death and that therefore [Plaintiff], as a member of the class who filed an action for wrongful death within the one-year savings period set out in § 537.100, RSMo is ‘the plaintiff or ‘the…”
Crane Ex Rel. Crane v. Riehn, 568 S.W.2d 525 (Mo. 1978).
· cites it 18× “All defendants denied liability alleging contributory negligence and defendant McGowan, not served until March of 1975 (more than five years after Crane's death), moved to dismiss alleging the bar of § 537.”
State Ex Rel. Rsch. Med. Ctr. v. Peters, 631 S.W.2d 938 (Mo. Ct. App. 1982).
· cites it 11× “The plaintiffs resisted dismissal on the premise that the enactment of the new wrongful death act — while their right to sue remained vital — extended the time for suit to three years [§ 537.”
Gramlich v. Travelers Ins. Co., 640 S.W.2d 180 (Mo. Ct. App. 1982).
· cites it 8× “Plaintiffs contend that the limitation of three years from date of death mandated by § 537.100, RSMo Supp.1981, the Wrongful Death Act, is applicable to the exclusion of § 516.”
Smith v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 275 S.W.3d 748 (Mo. Ct. App. 2008).
· cites it 4× “085, damages may be recovered in a wrongful death action for, among other things, pecuniary losses incurred by decedent's death, including, as provided by section 537.090, funeral expenses, and for "the reasonable value of the services, consortium, companionship, comfort,…”
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