In Keith-O'Brien Co. v. Snyder, 51 Utah 227, 169 P. 954 (Utah 1917), the Court held that the defendant's seven-year absence from the state tolled the applicable statute of limitations. The Court determined that the tolling statute applied even though the defendant's wife continued to reside in Utah during the defendant's absence. The Court concluded that the statute of limitations "runs only during the time the defendant is openly in the state and immediately on his leaving it the statute . . . ceases to run until his return." The Court gave effect to the literal meaning of the tolling statute--"if after the cause of action accrues he depart from the state, the time of his absence is not part of the time limited for the commencement of the action." (Id. at 955.)