David Kissi v. Nana Christian Ansah ( 2024 )


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  •                                 NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
    APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
    This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the
    internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
    SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
    APPELLATE DIVISION
    DOCKET NO. A-2040-21
    DAVID KISSI,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    v.
    NANA CHRISTIAN ANSAH,
    TAWIAH SARKODIE
    BOAHEMAA, KWABENA
    CHRISTIAN ANSAH, and
    ARABA CHRISTIAN,
    Defendants-Respondents.
    _____________________________
    Submitted April 10, 2024 – Decided April 29, 2024
    Before Judges Susswein and Vanek.
    On appeal of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law
    Division, Middlesex County, Docket No. L-7540-20.
    David Kissi, appellant pro se.
    Respondents have not filed a brief. 1
    1
    Defendants' brief was suppressed on January 9, 2023. The order was
    subsequently vacated and a briefing schedule issued. Defendants never filed a
    brief.
    PER CURIAM
    Plaintiff David Kissi appeals a February 18, 2022 Law Division order
    dismissing his complaint with prejudice for failure to commence litigation
    within the applicable statute of limitations. Plaintiff contends the trial court
    erred in determining his claim to recoup payments made for the benefit of his
    family members accrued in 2010, when they failed to promptly repay him as
    promised. Based upon our careful review of the record and prevailing New
    Jersey law, we affirm.
    I.
    On October 21, 2020, plaintiff filed a complaint seeking reimbursement
    of $72,000 paid in "cash, legal fees, food, and clothing" from 1990 to 2010 to
    facilitate defendants' immigration from Ghana to the United States. 2 Plaintiff
    alleges he financially assisted defendants—his half-sister Boahemaa Sarkodie 3
    and her children, Christian Kwabena Ansah, Nana Christian Ansah, and Helena
    2
    The record references several amended complaints, including one filed June
    21, 2021, that increased the requested relief from $72,000 to $95,000. The
    amended complaints are not contained in the record.
    3
    The record is inconsistent as to the designation of defendants' first and last
    names. We use the nomenclature set forth in the February 18, 2022 Law
    Division order.
    A-2040-21
    2
    Ansah—based on a collective promise that if he assisted with their immigration
    to the United States by May 2010, they would promptly reimburse him. Plaintiff
    asserts that defendants successfully immigrated in May 2010, but did not pay
    him back as promised.
    Defendants filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint with prejudice
    for failure to commence litigation within six years of the accrual date as required
    under the applicable statute of limitations, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1, and for lack of
    subject matter jurisdiction.      Among other arguments, plaintiff asserted
    defendants were committing fraud by failing to promptly reimburse him despite
    their promise and by including false statements in documents filed in the present
    litigation.
    Plaintiff told the trial court he gave his family members money beginning
    in 1979 with the last payment tendered in 2010. Plaintiff also argued that the
    statute of limitations had not yet expired because the fraud inflicted upon him
    through defendants' non-payment and untruthfulness was ongoing.
    The trial court granted defendants' motion and found plaintiff's lawsuit
    was barred by the applicable six-year statute of limitations in N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1.
    The trial court ruled in an oral decision that plaintiff alleged the agreement
    between the parties for plaintiff to assist with financing defendants' application
    A-2040-21
    3
    for authorization to immigrate to the United States was made in the 1980s and
    1990s, defendants were admitted to the United States in 2010 and plaintiff failed
    to file the lawsuit until 2020. The trial court rejected plaintiff's argument that
    the statute of limitations should not bar the action because there was ongoing
    fraud based on the continuous non-payment. Instead, the trial court found all of
    plaintiff's claims were barred by the statute of limitations since they accrued in
    2010 after plaintiff's final payment and defendants' failure to promptly repay as
    promised. This appeal followed.
    II.
    Plaintiff characterizes this litigation as a "purely debt collection case."
    Plaintiff argues on appeal that his claims are not untimely because he demanded
    repayment in 2015 and, since the complaint was filed in 2020, he complied with
    the applicable six-year statute of limitations.
    We review de novo a decision to dismiss a complaint as barred by the
    applicable statute of limitations. Smith v. Datla, 
    451 N.J. Super. 82
    , 88 (App.
    Div. 2017) (finding that "when analyzing pure questions of law raised in a
    dismissal motion, such as the application of a statute of limitations, we
    undertake a de novo review"). "Accordingly, we owe 'no deference to [the] trial
    judge's legal interpretations' in dismissing plaintiffs' complaint as timebarred ."
    A-2040-21
    4
    Save Camden Pub. Schs v. Camden City Bd. of Educ., 
    454 N.J. Super. 478
    , 487-
    88 (App. Div. 2018) (alteration in original) (quoting Giannakopoulos v. Mid
    State Mall, 
    438 N.J. Super. 595
    , 600 (App. Div. 2014)).
    Our courts have long recognized statutes of limitations are an important
    component of equity among parties. See Fox v. Millman, 
    210 N.J. 401
    , 415
    (2012).   "An underlying purpose of statutes of limitations is to reduce
    uncertainty concerning the timeliness of a cause of action." McGrogan v. Till,
    
    167 N.J. 414
    , 426 (2001). Proscribed limitations set an even playing field for
    both plaintiffs and defendants.       See Cumberland Cnty. Bd. of Chosen
    Freeholders v. Vitetta Grp., P.C., 
    431 N.J. Super. 596
    , 604 (App. Div. 2013).
    "Stated differently, the purpose of statutes of limitations is to protect
    defendants from unexpected enforcement of stale claims by plaintiffs who fail
    to use reasonable diligence in prosecuting their claims." LaFage v. Jani, 
    166 N.J. 412
    , 423 (2001). Whether a statute of limitations bars the complaint is an
    issue to be decided by the court, rather than a jury. Est. of Hainthaler v. Zurich
    Com. Ins., 
    387 N.J. Super. 318
    , 325 (App. Div. 2006).
    N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1(a) sets forth, in relevant part, "[e]very action at law . . .
    for recovery upon a contractual claim or liability . . . shall be commenced within
    six years next after the cause of any such action shall have accrued." The six -
    A-2040-21
    5
    year limitation set forth in N.J.S.A 2A:14-1 is applicable to quasi-contract
    claims, including unjust enrichment and quantum meruit claims.            Kopin v.
    Orange Prods., Inc., 
    297 N.J. Super. 353
    , 373-74 (App. Div. 1997); see Miller
    v. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders, 
    10 N.J. 398
    , 409 (1952) (the six-year statute of
    limitations applies for actions to recover for the "reasonable value of the services
    rendered"). A fraud claim is also governed by the six-year statute of limitations
    established in N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1(a). Catena v. Raytheon Co., 
    447 N.J. Super. 43
    ,
    52 (App. Div. 2016).
    III.
    We find no error in the trial court's dismissal of plaintiff's complaint with
    prejudice based upon the failure to file suit within six years of 2010, wh en
    defendants failed to promptly repay plaintiff after his last payment to them.
    Plaintiff's claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit
    are all subject to a six-year statute of limitations. Plaintiff's October 21, 2020
    initial complaint was not filed within six years of accrual, based upon the
    allegations in plaintiff's complaint and his factual admissions on the record.
    Plaintiff does not dispute that the applicable statute of limitations is six
    years. However, he asserts the limitation period has not run because defendants
    lied to him and are engaged in a continuous fraud. Plaintiff did not plead a cause
    A-2040-21
    6
    of action for fraud in his complaint. Instead, plaintiff alleged at oral argument
    that defendants breached their commitment to repay him and by making false
    statements in the context of this litigation. Even if plaintiff had plead fraud with
    specificity as required under Rule 4:5-8(a),4 we are unconvinced that a demand
    for payment made five years after defendants' failure to promptly repay entitles
    plaintiff to relief under the "discovery rule." 5 Indeed, it would have been
    immediately apparent to plaintiff that defendants had not promptly repaid their
    debt. Accordingly, we reject plaintiff's argument that the six-year statute of
    limitations either does not apply or should be extended to deem any fraud claim
    timely under the discovery rule.
    We reject the remainder of plaintiff's arguments.            Plaintiff posits
    defendants deprived themselves of any possible statute of limitations defense
    because they lied and committed fraud. However, plaintiff fails to cite any
    binding precedent substantiating the relief sought. Plaintiff also alleges without
    4
    Rule 4:5-8(a) sets forth that "[i]n all allegations of misrepresentation, fraud,
    mistake, breach of trust, willful default or undue influence, particulars of the
    wrong, with dates and items if necessary, shall be stated insofar as practicable. "
    5
    As explained by the Court in Lopez v. Swyer, 
    62 N.J. 267
    , 272 (1973), the
    discovery rule sets forth "a cause of action will be held not to accrue until the
    injured party discovers, or by an exercise of reasonable diligence and
    intelligence should have discovered that he may have a basis for an actionable
    claim."
    A-2040-21
    7
    any specificity that the trial court was biased and he did not get a fair hearing.
    We lack a sufficient factual or legal basis to consider these arguments. See Scott
    v. Salerno, 
    297 N.J. Super. 437
    , 447 (App. Div. 1997) (setting forth that our
    "review is confined to the record made in the trial court," so we are unable to
    consider assertions in merits briefs that lack a proffered factual foundation).
    To the extent we have not addressed any other arguments raised by
    plaintiff, they lack sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion.
    R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E).
    Affirmed.
    A-2040-21
    8
    

Document Info

Docket Number: A-2040-21

Filed Date: 4/29/2024

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 4/29/2024