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    Oct 2014
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    Default Re: Md Accumulation of Back Rent Statute of Limitations

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
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    If you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.

    If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

    But it's the plaintiff’s burden to prove that the reason for moving was to frustrate the creditor. You gotta prove its a horse that made the hoofbeats, not just assume it. Note that even being outside the state does not extend the statute of limitation in Maryland so long as the defendant, when found, would be subject to process under the state’s longarm statute:

    Although Larsen did not reside in Maryland during any portion of the relevant period and does not reside in Maryland now, there is no dispute that he was always reachable by process. Thus, he was never “absent from the State” within the meaning of § 5-205. In his complaint, Hansen alleged that the Circuit Court for Montgomery County had personal jurisdiction over Larsen under Code (1974, 1995 Repl.Vol.), § 6-103(b)(1) of the Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., in that he transacted business in Maryland.4 Section 6-304 of the Courts Article provides: “If the exercise of personal jurisdiction is authorized by this title, the defendant may be served with process where he is found, whether within or outside of the State.” Id., § 6-304.

    The complaint could have been filed and Larsen could have been served with process at any time after the cause of action arose. The record contains no valid explanation for the delay of thirteen years and three months from the date that Hansen allegedly learned of the sale of Type Time Boardwalk. It is nonsensical to suppose that, where a defendant is subject to the personal jurisdiction of a court and is within reach of the court's process, a plaintiff may refrain from taking action against the defendant until after the limitations period would normally expire simply because the defendant resides in another State.

    Hansen v. Larsen, 144 Md. App. 201, 210, 797 A.2d 118, 123 (2002). By that reasoning, if the defendant simply moved counties but yet would be subject to process he too should still get the benefit of the statute of limitations. In any event, simply moving without leaving a forwarding address isn’t itself going to be enough to toll the limitations period.

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