Barner v. Thompson/Center Arms Co., No. 14-2579 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseFour days before the statute of limitations expired, the Barners filed a complaint in Arkansas state court against T/C Inc. and T/C LLC, based on injuries allegedly sustained on October 15, 2010. T/C Inc. had merged into T/C LLC before the Barners filed suit. Under Arkansas law, they had 120 days to serve the defendants with the complaint and summons. Their attorney sent to CT Corporation, the registered agent for Inc., the complaint and summons for each party. CT returned two receipts, showing that service had been completed for both defendants on January 24, 2014; however, CT was not the registered agent for LLC. On February 14, after the 120-day period had expired, the defendants filed notice of removal. On April 8, the Barners served the complaint and summons for LLC on its registered agent. The court found that the claims against LLC would have been dismissed with prejudice had the case remained in state court, so the Barners could not complete service post-removal, and that Inc. was no longer a legal entity capable of being sued. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Inc., but reversed dismissal against LLC. Had the case remained in state court, it would have been dismissed, but without prejudice; the Barners would have had a year to refile under the savings statute.
Court Description: Wollman, Author, with Gruender, Circuit Judge, and Gritzner, District Judge] Civil case - Civil Procedure. Where plaintiff sent the complaint and summons by certified mail to the wrong registered agent and the agent sent a return receipt showing service has been completed, the court believes the Arkansas Supreme Court would hold that plaintiff had completed service on the defendant and the action had thus been commenced for purposes of the Arkansas savings statute; since Arkansas courts would have dismissed the case without prejudice had the case not been removed, at a minimum the district court should have dismissed plaintiffs' claims against defendant T/C LLC without prejudice allowing them to refile their claims against the defendant within one year of dismissal; plaintiff properly completed service on T/C LLC after removal and thereby complied with 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1448; additional defendant T/C Inc had merged into T/C LLC and it lacked the legal capacity to be sued, and the district court did not err in dismissing with prejudice the claims against it. [ August 03, 2015
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.