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Death of Defendant Limits Recovery of Damages to Insurance Unless Timely  Claim to Estate of Decedent  

In Maryland, to facilitate the prompt settlement of decedents\' estates, a  person must "present" a claim against an estate within six months after  the decedent\'s death or two months after the personal representative  mails or delivers proper notice of the need to file a claim within two  months, whichever comes first. Maryland Code \\xa7 8-103(a) of the Estates  and Trusts Article ("ET"). 

In general, if a claimant fails to meet those  statutory deadlines, the claim is "forever barred."  In Nicholas Shanefelter v. James Edward Hood, Jr., No. 1913-2021, Court  of Special Appeals of Maryland (January 4, 2023) the Court of Appeals  resolved the dispute by recognizing that if the decedent had insurance  coverage for the claim, the claimant need not present a timely claim  against the estate, as long as the claimant files suit against the  estate before the applicable statute of limitations has run. In that  event, a judgment against the estate is not limited to the amount of  insurance coverage, but the amount of the judgment that is recoverable  from the estate is limited to the amount of the policy. In essence, the  case becomes an action against the insurance policy.  In this case, the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County employed ET \\xa7  8-104(e)(2) to limit the amount recoverable from an estate to the limits  of the decedent\'s automobile insurance policy.  

FACTUAL BACKGROUND  

On December 1, 2018, appellant Nicholas Shanefelter was involved in an  automobile accident with the late James Hood, Jr. At the time of the  accident, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. insured the car  that Hood was driving.  Hood died on August 4, 2019, of causes unrelated to the accident. On  September 30, 2019, Hood\'s wife opened an estate on his behalf with the  Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County.  On February 20, 2020, Shanefelter filed suit against Hood in the Circuit  Court for Anne Arundel County. On March 6, 2020, seven months after  Hood\'s death, Shanefelter filed a claim against Hood\'s estate with the  Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County. The claim was untimely.  TRIAL COURT VERDICT  After a two-day trial in October 2021, a jury returned a verdict in  favor of Shanefelter and against the estate in the amount of  $285,977.69. One week after the verdict, the estate filed a motion and  asked the court to limit the amount of the judgment that was recoverable  from the estate to the policy limits of $100,000.00.