Filing a Writ of Summons Will Not Toll the Statue of Limitations If Subsequent Actions Stall Litigation

Dewitt Wimbs appealed from the order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court) that granted Molly Wolfson’s preliminary objections based on the statute of limitations and dismissing his personal injury complaint. Wimbs argued that the trial court erred in sustaining the preliminary objections because he filed a praecipe for writ of summons within the statute of limitations period, thus tolling the statute of limitations.

The court disagreed with Wimbs, stating that a writ of summons shall remain effective to commence an action only if the plaintiff then “refrains from a course of conduct which serves to stall in its tracks the legal machinery he has just set in motion.” Wimbs only made one attempt to serve Wolfson with the writ of summons following the expiration of the statue of limitations, which was not enough to toll the statute.

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