Tort/Negligence – Statute of Limitations – Wrongful Death Claim

The statute of limitations expired long before the decedent’s estate sued Defendants. The wrongful death claim is therefore untimely.

The Court granted the moving Defendants’ motion to dismiss and dismissed, with prejudice, all claims asserted by the decedent’s estate against those Defendants.

Consolidated cases arose from a shooting that killed the decedent and injured two others. All three victims asserted claims against the owners, managers, and security personnel of the shopping centers where the shooting occurred, alleging that they had a duty to provide adequate security but negligently failed to do so. Defendants contended that the wrongful death claims asserted by the decedent’s estate are untimely and moved to dismiss them under Rule 12(b)(6) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.

Everyone agrees that the two-year limitations period expired long before the decedent’s estate sued Defendants. The dispute is instead over whether Defendants are equitably estopped from asserting the statute of limitations as a defense. Defendants argued that they did not induce the decedent’s estate to delay filing suit. The complaint, they said, does not allege that they ever had any contact with the decedent’s estate or its lawyers, much less that they made misrepresentations to the estate. In their view, any delay in filing suit resulted from the estate’s lack of diligence. In response, the estate maintained that estoppel may apply when a wrongdoer conceals his identity, even without making a direct misrepresentation to the aggrieved party. The estate contended Defendants concealed their role in Northlake Commons’ security. According to the estate, the complaint adequately alleges that the actions of Defendants kept the estate from identifying them and, thus, induced the delay in filing suit.

The allegations do not show Defendants concealed their identities. At no point did the amended complaint allege that Defendants denied having a role in Northlake Commons’ security or lied about their involvement to police or other authorities during the investigation of the decedent’s death. Moreover, the allegations Defendants failed to perform their duties may suggest negligence (or worse) but do not support estoppel absent deliberate concealment of their identities. The amended complaint also contained a few conclusory allegations of concealment. But it is well settled that courts need not “accept as true allegations that are merely conclusory, unwarranted deductions of fact, or unreasonable inferences.”

In sum, the amended complaint’s allegations, even if true, do not support the application of equitable estoppel. As noted, it is undisputed that the statute of limitations expired long before the estate sued Defendants. The wrongful death claim is therefore untimely.

Granted.

Brown v. TM Northlake Mall LP (Lawyers’ Weekly No. 020-057-25, 9 pp.) (Adam M. Conrad, J.) 2025 NCBC 57. Howard, Stallings, From, Atkins, Angell & Davis, P.A., by Robert Jessup and Matthew Langston, and Ramsay Law Firm, by Brian Curtis Hunt, for Plaintiffs Bianca Julianne Brown, Brianna Perkins, and The Estate of Armani Donovick Spencer. Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham, LLP, by John Matthew Little and Daniel Thaddeus Perry, for Defendant Hiffman Asset Management, LLC d/b/a Hiffman National. Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A., by Christopher Mark Kelly, for Defendant S&S Management Group, LLC d/b/a Security Solutions of America. Goldberg Segalla LLP, by John I. Malone, for Defendant ARC NCCHRNC001, LLC. Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP, by Jamie L. Winokur and Spencer Hoisington, for Defendants Spinoso Real Estate Group, DLS, LLC and TM Northlake Mall, LP. Hall Booth Smith, P.C., by Peter F. O’Connell and Charles J. Taylor, for Defendant Professional Security Consultants, Inc. McAngus Goudelock & Courie, PLLC, by David M. Fothergill and Megan Reilly-Dreas, for Defendants AMMS, Inc., Amy Ruth Tompkins, and Michael McLaughlin. North Carolina Business Court