Opinion ID: 422193
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Test for Determining When the Statute of Limitations Began to Run

Text: 20 In determining when a legal malpractice claim accrues, the District of Columbia follows the so-called injury rule. 5 Under this rule, a claim for legal malpratice [230 U.S.App.D.C. 66] accrues when the plaintiff-client suffers actual injury, not when the act causing the injury occurs. See Hunt v. Bittman, 482 F.Supp. 1017, 1020 (D.D.C.1980); Weisberg v. Williams, Connolly & Califano, 390 A.2d at 995. 21 Furthermore, where a legal or medical injury is not readily apparent, the District of Columbia courts follow the discovery rule, which tolls the running of the statute of limitations until the plaintiff-client discovers or reasonably should have discovered her injury. 6 In Weisberg v. Williams, Connolly & Califano, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals faced the precise issue involved in this case--i.e., when the statute of limitations begins to run on a malpractice action against an attorney who has failed to file a timely claim on behalf of his client. While it concluded that it need not, and [could] not, pinpoint the precise moment when in all cases the cause of action for legal malpractice based on negligently allowing the statute of limitations to run on a client's claim accrues, the court determined that in the case before it the statute had indeed run because appellants had suffered injury more than three years prior to filing suit. 390 A.2d at 995. Although it did not have to apply the discovery rule to the case before it, the court stated that, in the jurisdictions that have adopted it, analysis under the rule is similar to that made when applying the principle of fraudulent concealment of the existence of a cause of action for malpractice and that the rule delays the running of the statutory period until the client knows or should know all material facts essential to show the elements of that cause of action. 7 Id. at 996 n. 8. 22 Subsequent District of Columbia Court of Appeals cases have explicitly applied the discovery rule to medical malpractice cases and have specifically stated that Weisberg calls for the rule to be applied in legal malpractice cases. See, e.g., Kelton v. District of Columbia, 413 A.2d 919 (D.C.App.1980) (applying discovery rule to a medical malpractice suit); Burns v. Bell, 409 A.2d 614, 617 (D.C.App.1979) (in all medical malpractice actions, the cause of action accrues when the plaintiff knows or through the exercise of due diligence should have known of the injury; holding based partly on the court's conclusion that Weisberg had already approved of the just and equitable results achieved by a similar approach in legal malpractice cases). In light of these cases, we conclude, as did the district court, that the discovery rule applies to this case.[230 U.S.App.D.C. 67] C. Is There An Issue of Material Fact? 23 Summary judgment is not appropriate in a case applying the discovery rule if there is a genuine issue of material fact as to when, through the exercise of due diligence, the plaintiff knew or should have known of her injury. See Williams v. Borden, 637 F.2d 731, 738 (10th Cir.1980) (where the question is when the plaintiff knew or should have known of her injury, summary judgment cannot be granted unless the evidence is so clear that there is no genuine factual issue and the determinations can be made as a matter of law; the movant must demonstrate entitlement [to a summary judgment] beyond a reasonable doubt and if an inference can be deduced from the facts whereby the nonmovant might recover, summary judgment is inappropriate); Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d 566, 573 (3d Cir.1976) (genuine issues of material fact concerning time decedent and her husband discovered they might have a claim precluded summary judgment based on statute of limitations; [i]nferences to be drawn from underlying facts ... must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1038, 97 S.Ct. 732, 50 L.Ed.2d 748 (1977); see also Burns v. Bell, 409 A.2d 614 (D.C.App.1979) (in medical malpractice suit, summary judgment on ground that statute of limitations had run before action was instituted precluded because genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether patient discovered or should have discovered her injury more than three years before filing her action). Thus, we cannot uphold the district court's grant of summary judgment in this case if we conclude that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to when Byers knew or should have known all the material facts essential to show the elements of legal malpractice. 24 Burleson argues that the district court correctly determined that Byers discovered or should have discovered her injury by August 11, 1978, or at the latest, November 2, 1978. On August 11, Parsons received Byers' file from Burleson. That file contained Teimourian's answer to Byers' complaint, in which Teimourian asserted the defense that if any foreign object was in plaintiff's breast as alleged, it was placed there by persons who are not parties to this litigation. Brief for Appellee at 7 n. 3; Brief for Appellant at 10. On November 2, Teimourian served Parsons with his answers to interrogatories, in which he stated categorically that he never uses sponges in breast reduction surgery. Since both of those events occurred more than three years before Byers filed her complaint against Burleson, the district court found and Burleson argues on this appeal that Byers' claim is barred by the running of the statute of limitations. 25 Unlike Burleson and the district court, we conclude that summary judgment was inappropriate in this case because a genuine issue of material fact exists as to the ultimate issue of when Byers discovered or should have discovered Burleson's alleged malpractice. Under the Weisberg essential-facts test, the statutory period did not begin to run when only a remote possibility existed that Burleson had been guilty of malpractice, nor was it tolled until Byers amassed an airtight case of legal malpractice against Burleson. Rather, the statutory period began to run when Byers (in fact or constructively, through Parsons) knew, or with due diligence should have known, that (1) it was likely Teimourian did not leave the foreign body in her breast; and (2) Burleson had been negligent in failing to sue Malcolm Grow within the two-year limitations period set by the Federal Tort Claims Act. 26 We believe that reasonable minds could differ on the basis of the underlying facts in this record as to when Byers had sufficient knowledge to meet this test. The first strong indicator to Byers that Burleson may have been negligent was her realization that Teimourian was probably not negligent. In her Counterstatement of Material Facts In Issue, App. at 174-80, Byers asserts that from 1976-78 Burleson repeatedly assured her that she had a good case for medical malpractice against both Teimourian and Greater Southeast and that [230 U.S.App.D.C. 68] he had contacted several doctors and other experts who would testify that Teimourian was negligent in leaving a foreign body in Byers' breast. In addition, when he turned over Byers' case file to Parsons on August 11, 1978, Burleson wrote in a cover memorandum that the file contained records that would win the case for Byers against Teimourian and proceeded to file an attorney's lien against any future judgment in the lawsuit. While Teimourian's answer to the original complaint asserted that any foreign object found in plaintiff's breast was not placed there by persons who are ... parties to this litigation, this statement was specifically countered by other evidence in the file that indicated Teimourian was negligent. 27 Thus, on August 11, Byers had substantial reason to believe Teimourian had been negligent, a belief countered only by Teimourian's bare denial of liability and suggestion that some other unnamed person must have done the deed. There was as yet no evidence, at least in the record before us, to confirm Teimourian's denial. Thus, we are unwilling to say as a matter of law that on August 11, Byers should have realized that Teimourian's denial of liability was true. 28 As for the November 5, 1978 date, we think that a trier of fact could reasonably conclude that Byers (and her attorney, Parsons) did not know all the essential facts to establish Burleson's negligence on that date. The trier of fact could reasonably conclude that Byers and Parsons should have been allowed a reasonable period of time after receiving Teimourian's answers to interrogatories to read them and to make a serious follow-up inquiry of Teimourian, Malcolm Grow, Burleson, and Burleson's supposed group of experts. On November 5, Byers had only Teimourian's word that he did not use sponges in his reduction mammoplasty operations. Were the trier of fact to allow Byers as little as five days as a reasonable period for a follow-up inquiry after the receipt of the interrogatories, less than three years would have elapsed since she should have realized that Teimourian probably was not negligent. 29 Moreover, knowledge of Teimourian's probable lack of fault might not suffice to charge Byers with knowledge of Burleson's negligence. Given the egregious nature of a lawyer's failure to sue the right defendant, the trier of fact could conclude that once Byers knew that Teimourian was probably not at fault, she should also have known that Burleson likely was. But it is also possible that Burleson's failure to sue anyone at Malcolm Grow was a result of a reasonable belief that Teimourian was the only possible negligent party. It is a factual question whether the two dates (when Byers should have known that Teimourian probably was not negligent, and when Byers should have known that Burleson likely was negligent) coincide. 30 In sum, there are genuine issues of material fact to be resolved regarding the point at which Byers or her attorney discovered or should have discovered the essential facts necessary to a malpractice action. This is particularly so because application of the discovery rule invariably involves questions of knowledge and judgment, questions that should not generally be decided as a matter of law if there is any doubt as to the inferences to be drawn from the underlying facts. Williams v. Borden, 637 F.2d at 738; Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d at 575. 8 We therefore conclude that the [230 U.S.App.D.C. 69] district court erred in granting Burleson's motion for summary judgment and that a hearing is required to determine when Byers had sufficient facts to show that Burleson was negligent in failing to sue the proper parties.