STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-APPOINTMENT OF PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE

Edwards v. Norfolk S. Ry. Co., 2023 Pa. Super. LEXIS 109, 2023 WL 2579881 (March 21, 2023) (Pellegrini, J.) Under the relation back doctrine, our courts, in certain situations, have validated the acts of a personal representative of an estate that predate their official appointment. In this interlocutory appeal by permission, we consider whether the doctrine applies when a plaintiff timely files an action on behalf of an estate but does not apply to be appointed the personal representative until after the statute of limitations has run. Finding that the doctrine applies in such situations, the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial court) denied the motion for summary judgment filed by Norfolk Southern Railway Company (Norfolk Southern) to dismiss the action filed by Denia Edwards (Edwards), personal representative of the estate of Douglas A. Edwards, her late husband’s estate. Norfolk Southern appeals from that order and argues that the relation back doctrine is inapplicable here because Edwards did not apply to be the personal representative of the estate until two months after the expiration of the statute of limitations. After review, we affirm and hold that her appointment as personal representative of her late husband’s estate relates back to her filing the complaint. On October 27, 2015, Douglas A. Edwards died. On October 26, 2018, with one day left before the statute of limitations expired, Edwards filed an action under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. §§ 51-60, alleging that her late husband’s renal cell cancer was caused by his two decade- plus employment with Norfolk Southern. The complaint named the plaintiff as “Denia Edwards, personal representative for the estate of Douglas A. Edwards.” At the time, however, Edwards had neither applied for nor been appointed the personal representative of her late husband’s estate, even though she was named the executor in his last will and testament. On December 27, 2018, two months after the statute of limitations for a FELA action had run, Edwards finally applied to be the personal representative of her late husband’s estate in Mercer County, West Virginia, which is where she and her late husband lived. Norfolk Southern then filed this appeal to argue that summary judgment should have been granted because Edwards waited until after the statute of limitations to apply to be appointed the personal representative of her late husband’s estate. Edwards was named the executor in her late husband’s last will and testament and timely filed her FELA action in which she averred that she was the personal representative of her late husband’s estate. While it may be preferable that the plaintiff seek appointment before the statute runs, we do not find that failure to do so compels dismissal of a complaint when the plaintiff is the named executor and avers that she is the personal representative in the timely-filed complaint. Order affirmed. Case remanded. Jurisdiction relinquished.