Civil Practice – Statute of Limitations – Breach of Contract – Banks & Banking – Real Property

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North Charleston Community Interfaith Shelter v. Bank of America, N.A. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-008-18, 7 pp.) (Richard Mark Gergel, J.) 2:16-cv-01250; D.S.C.

Holding: In 2006, the plaintiff-charity’s then-executive director, Nancy Cook, took out a loan from the defendant-bank, using the charity’s real property as collateral. The charity learned of the loan in 2011 and fired Cook, but it did not file this breach of contract action until 2015. The charity’s claim is time-barred.

The court grants the bank’s motion for summary judgment.

The charity contends that the bank refused to release certain loan documents until August or September 2012. Even if the three-year statute of limitations began to run in September 2012, the charity’s Dec. 7, 2015, complaint was still filed outside the statute of limitations.

In response to the bank’s motion for summary judgment, the charity argues, for the first time, that the 20-year statute of limitations in S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-520 applies to its breach of contract claim because it is an action upon a “contract in writing secured by a mortgage of real property” and is based on a sealed instrument. However, the charity alleges a breach of contract based on its checking account agreement with the bank. The charity has not alleged that the bank breached any provision of the loan/mortgage agreement.

Motion granted.