Statute of Limitations Not Tolled by Equitable Estoppel

On October 28, 2013, Justice Whelan of the Suffolk County Commercial Division issued a decision in North Coast Outfitters, Ltd. v. Darling, 2013 NY Slip Op. 32731(U), declining to apply the doctrine of equitable estoppel to toll the statute of limitations in a shareholder dispute.

Justice Whelan explained:

[T]he doctrine of equitable estoppel applies where plaintiff was induced by fraud, misrepresentations or deception to refrain from filing a timely action and the plaintiff demonstrates reasonable reliance on the defendant's misrepresentations. To be successful, the party seeking to invoke the estoppel doctrine bears the burden of demonstrating that it was diligent in commencing the action within a reasonable time after the facts giving rise to the estoppel have ceased to be operational. Where concealment without actual misrepresentation is claimed to have prevented a plaintiff from commencing a timely action, the plaintiff must demonstrate a fiduciary relationship exists, out of which. an obligation arises to inform the plaintiff of facts material to the underlying claim. In cases like the instant one wherein a fiduciary duty is owing from the defendant, the plaintiff must establish that the defendant's failure to inform the plaintiff of material facts contributed to the delay in bringing the action.

Justice Whelan found that equitable estoppel did not apply because the plaintiff had not raised "a genuine issue of fact regarding the existence of any lack of knowledge of true facts on the part of the plaintiff or of any subsequent acts of concealment or other failure by [defendant] to disclose material facts he had a duty to disclose which caused the plaintiff's failure to bring its claim in a timely manner."