Glenn Basham v. Henry Tillaart

The plaintiff, Glenn Basham, doing business as Glenn Basham Nursery, sued Henry Tillaart and Martin Tillaart ("the individual defendants"), who are identified in the complaint as Ontario, Canada businessmen, for monies due as a result of a commercial sale of nursery stock. The style of the complaint refers to the trade name of the individual defendants as "Dutchmaster Nurseries." Over six years later, the plaintiff moved the trial court to substitute a Canadian corporation, i.e., "Dutchmaster Nurseries, Ltd.," for the individual defendants. The individual defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for "insufficiency of service of process." They also claimed that the plaintiff's cause of action was barred by the statute of limitation. The trial court denied the motion to amend. It granted the motion to dismiss the complaint. The plaintiff appeals, arguing that the motion to dismiss should have been denied and that he should have been permitted to amend his complaint to name the correct defendant. We affirm.