Ninth Circuit Finds Covid Generated Rule Tolling Statutes of Limitations Does not Apply to Private Limitations of Action
Post 4926
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gFPzqxd6, see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gNyhiZZ7 and at https://lnkd.in/gSnUNHkG and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4900 posts.
William Scollard sued State Farm after it denied his insurance claim alleging that two antique items, worth $126,000, were stolen from his vehicle. The district court granted summary judgment to State Farm, finding that Scollard’s suit was time-barred under the homeowners policy’s one-year limitation period. Scollard appealed.
Private Limitation of Action not a Statute of Limitation
In William Scollard v. State Farm General Insurance Company, No. 23-55747, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (November 1, 2024) Scollard argued that Emergency Rule 9, enacted by the California Judicial Council in response to COVID-19, tolls the policy’s limitations provision. The Ninth Circuit noted that Rule 9 only tolls “statutes of limitations and repose[.]” Scollard argued unsucessfully that, because the limitation provision in the policy is mandated by California Insurance Code section 2071, it should be considered a statute of limitation and thus be tolled under Rule 9.
California law also at times distinguishes statutes of limitation, enacted by the legislature, from contractual limitation periods, which are bargained-for terms between the parties. Limitations periods in insurance policies are not “statutes” of limitation; they are contractual limitations on the insurer’s liability.
In certain circumstances and for some purposes, policy terms mandated by Insurance Code section 2071 are properly treated as a statute of limitation. Insurance Code section 2071’s mandated provisions provide the same result and are treated identically to statutes of limitation.
Conclusion
Because Rule 9 arises from the much broader context of COVID-19 and applies widely to all statutes of limitation, excluding contractual limitation periods contained in homeowners policies from the Rule’s scope does not defeat the entire purpose of the Rule.
Neither does the language of Rule 9 support reading it as applying to contractual limitation periods such as this one. The drafters of Rule 9 did not include “or contract” in Rule 9.
Absent any specific indication otherwise, there is no basis in California law to infer that the Judicial Council intended Rule 9 to toll contractual limitation periods.
The Ninth Circuit concluded that Rule 9 does not apply to Scollard’s claims because Rule 9 tolls only statutes of limitation, not limitation provisions contained in contracts like Scollard’s Policy.
ZALMA OPINION
For a reason unknown to me people and their lawyers tend to forget that an insurance policy is a contract. Every standard fire policy and every homeowners policy contain a private limitations of action provision – usually one or two years after the loss causing event, unless waived or extended. In this case Scollard filed his suit against State Farm after expiration of the private limitation of action. Although California’s Judicial Council enacted Rule 9 to extend statutes of limitations because of the lockdowns resulting from the Pandemic it did not even mention private limitations of action provision and Scollard’s suit was time barred.
(c) 2024 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
Please tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos.
Subscribe to my substack at https://barryzalma.substack.com/subscribe
Go to X @bzalma; Go to Newsbreak.com https://www.newsbreak.com/@c/1653419?s=01; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/account/content?type=all; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg
Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://lnkd.in/gwEYk
The Largest Residential Burglary of All Time
Post 5407
Fraud & the Fear of Bad Faith Suits
Posted on July 22, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gWQQEySW and at https://lnkd.in/gyhdK6wv
This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud explaining why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is one of a collection designed to help to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the Perpetrators than any Other Crime.
This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud explaining why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is one of a collection designed to help to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the Perpetrators than any Other Crime.
After ...
Chutzpah is not Enough
Post 5397
Posted on July 20, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the video and at https://lnkd.in/gNUs2XzT and at https://lnkd.in/g2MawyzX
Magistrate Issues a Search Warrant if there is a Fair Probability that Contraband or Evidence of a Crime will be Found in a Particular Place.
In United States Of America v. Frank Suess, et al., CRIMINAL No. 3:24-308, United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania (July 16, 2026) a federal grand jury indicted Frank Suess, Melissa Driscoll, and others in a 55-count health care fraud and anti-kickback prosecution arising from an alleged scheme involving medically unnecessary prescription “foot baths.”
As part of the investigation, the FBI obtained an August 19, 2022 warrant to search Driscoll’s Sterling Pharmacy Yahoo email account for emails from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020. Driscoll moved to suppress the resulting evidence, arguing that the warrant lacked probable cause, was overbroad, and rested on material misstatements and omissions.
LAW:
The ...
Fraud Shouldn’t Pay
Post 5396
See the video and at https://rumble.com/v7ctgmq-the-great-jewel-theft.html at https://youtu.be/aRbQ2sJfGwA
This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud explaining why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is one of a collection designed to help to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the ¬¬¬Perpetrators than any Other Crime.
The Insured purchased, for the first time in his life, a policy of Personal Articles Floater Insurance (PAF) scheduling $125,000 worth of ladies jewelry. He advised the insurer that the jewelry was always kept in a class E safe at his residence. He also told the insurer that he was employed full time as the owner of a gasoline service station and that he had never been canceled or suffered a previous loss.
One month after the policy was ...
Guilty of Misprison of a Felony Admitted by Owner of Insurers
Posted on August 12, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Second Trial of Coram Nobis Relief Fails
Post 5422
Coram Nobis is an Extraordinary Remedy
In United States Of America v. David Judd Disiere, Criminal Action No. 99-151-SDD-SDJ, United States District Court, M.D. Louisiana (August 10, 2026 David Judd Disiere was convicted in 2000 after pleading guilty to misprision of a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 4 in connection with allegations involving a scheme to influence the resolution of an investigation into insurance companies he owned.
He was sentenced to probation and a fine, did not directly appeal, and completed probation in 2003. After an earlier unsuccessful postconviction challenge, Disiere filed a second petition for writ of error coram nobis in 2024, claiming his plea was coerced by prosecutors’ threats relating to an employee allegation, that those threats were concealed from the court, that his counsel was ineffective, and that the factual basis did...
Day Care Owner Loses Subsidies Because She Criticized State
Post 5421
Posted on August 11, 2026 by Barry Zalma
First Amendment Right Will be Allowed to Go to Trial
In Betsey J. Grant v. Maine State Department Of Heath And Human Services, No. 1:25-cv-00490-JAW, United States District Court, D. Maine (August 6, 2026), Betsey J. Grant, a licensed childcare provider and operator of Tiny Tikes Daycare in Trenton, Maine, sued Maine DHHS and several employees after she publicly criticized DHHS before Maine’s Government Oversight Committee and alleged that officials retaliated against her.
She claimed DHHS imposed and extended a conditional license, published stigmatizing information, interfered with subsidies and program funding, removed her from a food program, rescinded an expansion grant, and used biased or falsified evidence in licensing proceedings. Following the March 10, 2023, GOC testimony, Ms. Grant alleges that foster children's subsidies (approximately $30,000) were withheld; she was removed from the ...
Rescission for Material Misrepresentation
Post 5418
Posted on August 5, 2026 by Barry Zalma
An Insurer May Rescind An Insurance Policy Where The Applicant Made A Material Misrepresentation In The Application.
In Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. 844 Knickerbocker, LLC, et al. No. 2024-10359, Index No. 602824/22, 2026 NY Slip Op 04789, Supreme Court of New York, Second Department (July 29, 2026) Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company issued commercial insurance policies to 844 Knickerbocker, LLC, and Sanjaya Mallick based on applications stating that the insured property contained two apartment units. After an underlying personal injury action was filed, Union Mutual determined that the property actually contained three apartment units and rescinded the policies on the ground that the defendants had made a material misrepresentation in the applications.
LAW:
A misrepresentation is material if the insurer would not have issued the same policy, or would have issued it only on different terms, had the true ...
