Case Name: Carmella MEEHAN, as Personal Representative of the Estate and Heirs of Charles Meehan, deceased, Appellant, v. The CELOTEX CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc., and Ohio corporation, GAF Corporation, a Delaware corporation, Johns-Manville Sales Corporation a Delaware corporation, Owens-Illinois, Inc., an Ohio corporation, and H.K. Porter Company, Inc., Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1985-02-05
Citations: 466 So. 2d 1100
Docket Number: No. 82-122
Parties: Carmella MEEHAN, as Personal Representative of the Estate and Heirs of Charles Meehan, deceased, Appellant, v. The CELOTEX CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc., and Ohio corporation, GAF Corporation, a Delaware corporation, Johns-Manville Sales Corporation a Delaware corporation, Owens-Illinois, Inc., an Ohio corporation, and H.K. Porter Company, Inc., Appellees.
Judges: Before HENDRY, NESBITT and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 466
Pages: 1100–1108

Head Matter:
Carmella MEEHAN, as Personal Representative of the Estate and Heirs of Charles Meehan, deceased, Appellant, v. The CELOTEX CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc., and Ohio corporation, GAF Corporation, a Delaware corporation, Johns-Manville Sales Corporation a Delaware corporation, Owens-Illinois, Inc., an Ohio corporation, and H.K. Porter Company, Inc., Appellees.
No. 82-122.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Feb. 5, 1985.
On Rehearing En Banc Feb. 5, 1985.
Rehearing and Certification Denied April 9, 1985.
Frederick M. Baron & Associates and Jane N. Saginaw and Brian D. Weinstein, Dallas, Tex., Robles & Robles, Miami, for appellant.
Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans and Clark Jordan-Holmes and Charles P. Schropp, Tampa, Thomson, Zeder, Bohrer, Werth, Adorno & Razook and Jon W. Zeder and Rana M. Gorzeck; Wolpe & Leibowitz, Steven R. Berger, Kimbrell, Hamann, Jennings, Womack, Carlson & Kniskern and Susan J. Cole and Michael K. McLemore, Marks, Gray, Conroy & Gibbs and Tracey I. Arpen, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellees.
Before HENDRY, NESBITT and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

Opinion:
REVISED OPINION
DANIEL S. PEARSON, Judge.
The panel opinion issued in this cause on November 15, 1983, is withdrawn, and the following opinion is substituted therefor.
The appellant, Carmella Meehan, is the personal representative of the estate of Charles Meehan, her late husband. Reciting a now all too familiar scenario, Mrs. Meehan charged that the defendants caused her husband's death when products manufactured by them exposed him to the pernicious effects of asbestos dust.
Between 1942 and 1945, Charles worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where, it is alleged, he was exposed to the defendants' asbestos products. He and Carmella moved to Florida in 1969. Eight years later, Charles' Florida physician first diagnosed Charles as having asbestosis and me-sothelioma, diseases caused by the inhalation of asbestos. Charles died in 1978, and a year later this suit was filed in Florida. The trial court entered summary judgment for the defendants on the stated ground that:
"It is undisputed that the Decedent, CHARLES FRANCIS MEEHAN, was exposed to asbestos products only at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, from 1942 through 1945. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 95.10 of the Florida Statutes this Court applies the appropriate statute of limitations under the laws of the State of New York and finds that this action is barred by those statutes of limitations [sic]."
This appeal followed. We reverse.
Section 95.10, Florida Statutes (1979), referred to in the trial court's judgment, is commonly known as a borrowing statute. It provides:
"When the cause of action arose in another state or territory of the United States, or in a foreign country, and its laws forbid the maintenance of the action because of lapse of time, no action shall be maintained in this state." (emphasis supplied).
It is clear that the borrowing statute is triggered only upon a finding that the cause of action arose in another state. Because Florida's borrowing statute is considered to be purely procedural, Colhoun v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 265 So.2d 18 (Fla.1972); Pledger v. Burnup & Sims, Inc., 432 So.2d 1323 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983), rev. denied 446 So.2d 99 (Fla.1984), the determination of where a "cause of action arose" is made in accordance with the law of the forum state, (here Florida), Colhoun, 265 So.2d 18; Pledger, 432 So.2d 1323, see Farris & Co. v. William Schluderberg, T.J. Kurdle Co., 141 Fla. 462, 193 So. 429 (1940), rather than New York, the state apparently deemed by the trial court to have the most significant relationship to the occurrence and to the parties.
Under the thus applicable Florida law, a cause of action in tort "arises in the jurisdiction where the last act necessary to establish liability occurred." Colhoun v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 265 So.2d at 21. Although it is plausibly argued by the defendants that we must distinguish between where a cause of action arises (said by them to be the place where the claim originates) and when a cause of action accrues (said by them to be the time when the statute of limitations begins to run) and that discovery of the existence of a cause of action is relevant only to the latter inquiry, our examination of Florida case law discloses that no such distinction has ever been made and that, to the contrary, the terms "arise" and "arose" have consistently been used interchangeably with the terms "accrue" and "accrued". See, e.g., Universal Engineering Corp. v. Perez, 451 So.2d 463 (Fla.1984); Colhoun v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 265 So.2d 18; Brown v. Case, 80 Fla. 703, 86 So. 684 (1920). Cf. Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. Squires Development Corp., 387 So.2d 986 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) (splitting causes of action); Gaboury v. Flagler Hospital, Inc., 316 So.2d 642 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975) (venue case). Indeed, in the face of this case law, assumed to be known by the legislature, see Migliore v. Crown Liquors of Broward, Inc., 448 So.2d 978 (Fla.1984); Senfeld v. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co., 450 So.2d 1157 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), the legislature, in 1975, revised Chapter 95, including Section 95.10, and not only made no effort to distinguish between these terms, but instead reinforced their equation by defining accrue as occurring "when the last element constituting the cause of action occurs", § 95.031(1), Fla.Stat. (1975), a definition which is substantially the same as the definition of arise ("where the last act necessary to establish liability occurred") found in Col-houn. Thus, to ascertain the meaning of the phrase "where the last act necessary to establish liability occurred" — that is, where the cause of action arose — we may properly look to the meaning of its equivalent, "when the last element constituting the cause of action occurs" — that is, when the cause of action accrued. It being clear that "the accrual [of a cause of action] must coincide with the aggrieved party's discovery or duty to discover the act constituting an invasion of his legal rights", Creviston v. General Motors Corp., 225 So.2d 331, 334 (Fla.1969); see Senfeld v. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co., 450 So.2d 1157; Lund v. Cook, 354 So.2d 940 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied 360 So.2d 1247 (Fla.1978), a cause of action in tort arises when the plaintiff knew or should have known of the existence of the cause of action or the invasion of his legal rights. ,
Therefore, insofar as Marano v. Celotex Corp., 433 So.2d 592 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983) holds that for purposes of Florida's borrowing statute a cause of action arises at the time of exposure to a deleterious substance without regard to whether the plaintiff knew or should have known of the injury, that holding is overruled.
Because the record before us does not conclusively demonstrate that the cause of action arose in New York or, for that matter, arose anytime prior to 1977 when Meehan's disease was first diagnosed in Florida, we hold that the trial court erred in finding as a matter of law that Meehan's cause of action arose in New York rather than in Florida. See Brown v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 441 So.2d 1098 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). Of course, if, in subsequent proceedings, there is evidence adduced to show that Meehan knew or should have known through the exercise of due diligence of the existence of his cause of action more than four years prior to the institution of this suit, our opinion will not prevent the fact-finder from con-eluding that this action is limitations-barred under Section 95.11(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1979).
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HENDRY, BARKDULL, HUBBART, NESBITT, BAS-KIN, DANIEL S. PEARSON, FERGUSON and JORGENSON, JJ.
.Admittedly, there is respectable support for the contrary view that an integral part of the substance of any cause of action is the amount of time for which it has life and that, therefore, a borrowing statute, the aim of which is to give a cause of action no greater life in the forum jurisdiction than it would have in the state whose substantive law is to be applied, should be construed according to the law of the latter state. See Martin v. Julttis Dierck Equipment Co., 52 A.D.2d 463, 384 N.Y.S.2d 479 (N.Y.App.Div.1976); E. Scoles and P. Hay, Conflict of Laws (1982); R. Weintraub, Commentary on the Conflict of Laws (2d ed. 1980). However, at least one Florida court has specifically rejected the application of the significant relationship test to Section 95.10. Pledger v. Burnup & Sims, Inc., 432 So.2d 1323 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). Cf. Proprietors Insurance Co. v. Valsecchi, 435 So.2d 290 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983) (rejecting the "interest" approach to conflict of law choices.)
. Courts in other jurisdictions have held that the terms "arose" and "accrued" have the same meaning. See, e.g., Renfroe v. Eli Lilly & Co., 541 F.Supp. 805 (E.D.Mo.), affirmed, 686 F.2d 642 (8th Cir.1982); Bruner v. Martin, 76 Kan. 862, 93 P. 165 (1907). But see Klotz v. Angle, 220 N.Y. 347, 116 N.E. 24 (1917); Doughty v. Funk, 15 Okla. 643, 84 P. 484 (1905).
. In contrast, under New York law a cause of action in tort arises at the point of exposure to the deleterious substance, "even though the injured party may be ignorant of the existence of the wrong or injury," Schmidt v. Merchants Despatch Transportation, Co., 270 N.Y. 287, 200 N.E. 824, 827 (N.Y.1936). This court-made rule, first announced in Schmidt, has been consistently reaffirmed by the New York courts. In 1981 the New York legislature amended its statute of limitations to make the exposure rule inapplicable to Agent Orange cases, in which the statute of limitations is to run from the date of discovery or constructive discovery. N.Y.Civ. Prac.Law § 214-b (1983). In Steinhardt v. Johns-Manville Corp., 430 N.E.2d 1297, 54 N.Y.2d 1008, 446 N.Y.S.2d 244 (1981), cert denied 456 U.S. 967, 102 S.Ct. 2226, 72 L.Ed.2d 840 (1982), the New York Court of Appeals, acknowledging the amendment, declined to judicially extend the discovery rule to deleterious substances other than Agent Orange, paradoxically stating "[w]e believe it to be inappropriate and injudicious to intrude into an area best suited for legislative scrutiny." 430 N.E.2d at 1299, 54 N.Y.2d at 1012, 446 N.Y.S.2d at 246. At oral argument on rehearing en banc this court was informed that the New York legislature was in the process of amending its statute of limitations again so as to bring other deleterious substances under the discovery rule. Our research reveals no such change as of the date of this opinion.
.Sec note 4 on page 1103.
4. Assuming, arguendo, that venue cases are apposite to the instant case, we do not agree with the defendants that A-l Truck Service, Inc. v. Kivenas, 371 So.2d 495 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979), or Gaboury v. Flagler Hospital, Inc., 316 So.2d 642 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975), compel the conclusion that a cause of action arises where the negligent act occurs absent cognizance of the negligent act. Indeed, as Gaboury itself says:
"In determining the proper forum in which to bring suit under the general statute fixing venue where the cause of action 'arose', or 'accrued', the 'injury occurred', et cetera, the differences are often of importance, but generally within the meaning of statutes of this kind, a cause of action is said to arise at the place where the act creating the right to bring an action occurred, and when a tort is complete in a particular county, the cause of action is deemed to have accrued there so as to fix venue, notwithstanding that the plaintiff may have suffered damages, and even his greatest damage, in another county." 316 So.2d at 644 (emphasis supplied; emphasis in original omitted).
"[A] tort is complete" only when the plaintiff knew or should have known of his' right to a cause of action or an invasion of his legal right. City of Miami v. Brooks, 70 So.2d 306 (Fla. 1954).
. If the evidence were to show that Meehan knew or should have known through the exercise of due diligence of the existence of his cause of action prior to 1969 when he moved from New York, the action would clearly be barred under the statutes of limitations of both Florida and New York, see N.Y.Civ.Prac.Law § 214(5) (McKinney 1983) (an action for a personal injury must be commenced within three years), and, although technically the borrowing statute would be triggered, there would be no difference in the result.