Statute of limitations for contract actions is five years, with exceptions that include any action for payment upon a written contract, which is ten years. Ten-year limitation could apply to an invoice stating that buyer’s signature constituted a promise to pay. But the ten-year limitation did not apply to seller’s invoices, on which buyer’s only writing was a signature, the significance of which the invoice does not describe. “[T]he promise to pay money must arise from the writing’s explicit language; extrinsic evidence cannot supply the promise.” Five-year limitation applied to the parties’ contract seller’s action to enforce that contract was too late, so circuit court should have dismissed that action, and the Supreme Court reverses the circuit court’s judgment.
Di Gregorio Food Products, Inc., Respondent, vs. John Racanelli, d/b/a Racanelli’s Cucina Pizza Express, Racanelli’s Cucina, Racanelli’s Delmar, Racanelli’s Kirkwood, Racanelli’s Fenton, and Racanelli’s New York Pizzaria, Appellant.
(Overview Summary)
Supreme Court of Missouri – SC98443
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