Livingston v. Estate of Bias

Foth, C.J.:

The issue in this case is whether a new suit may be filed when a prior suit on the same cause of action has been dismissed under K.S.A. 60-225(a)(l) for failure to substitute a proper party within a reasonable time after the defendant’s death was suggested upon the record. We hold that it may not.

Plaintiff Craig Livingston first filed suit against Leonard Bias on May 25, 1978, for injuries sustained in a 1976 automobile accident. Bias, the defendant in that suit, died March 2, 1980, a resident of Missouri. A suggestion of death appeared in a pretrial order of June 2,1980. In…