Cunningham v. Insurance Co. of North America

I dissent.

Appellant, Insurance Company of North America (INA), framed the issue it presented to this Court as follows:

Did the filing of a class action over which no court had jurisdiction because the named plaintiffs lacked standing to sue nevertheless toll the statute of limitations for claims filed after the statute otherwise would have run?

The thrust of appellant’s argument is that lack of standing in a class action proceeding goes to the essence of a court’s jurisdiction and that lack of standing renders a class action a nullity from the outset. This is not the law of this Commonwealth.…