Sun Oil Co. v. Wortman

In Sun Oil Co. v. Wortman, 486 U.S. 717, 722, 100 L. Ed. 2d 743, 752, 108 S. Ct. 2117 (1988), the Supreme Court held a state "may apply its own procedural rules to actions litigated in its courts," id., noting that statutes of limitation are recognized by most states as procedural rules, Sun Oil, 486 U.S. at 724-26, 100 L. Ed. 2d at 754-55. Although the Court commented that such characterization is not mandatory, id. at 729, 100 L. Ed. 2d at 756, North Carolina courts have consistently viewed statutes of limitation as procedural: the plea of the statute of limitations, in an action in our State on a judgment obtained in another State, is a plea to the remedy, and consequently the lex fori must prevail in such an action. Arrington v. Arrington, 127 N.C. 190, 197, 37 S.E. 212, 214 (1900) (citing M'Elmoyle); accord, Boudreau v. Baughman, 322 N.C. 331, 335, 340, 368 S.E.2d 849, 854, 857 (1988) ("statutes of limitation are clearly procedural," therefore courts must apply the "lex fori, the law of the forum").