Opinion ID: 707278
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Heading: jensen's claims against instar

Text: 15 Instar ceased all pesticide consulting and application for the County in 1990. Jensen filed her complaint on June 14, 1993. Jensen argued that her claims were timely because she did not learn of the cause of her injury until June 12, 1992. The district court disagreed and dismissed Jensen's eighteen personal injury claims against Instar as time-barred by California's one-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions, Cal.Civ.Proc.Code Sec. 340(3). 16 Jensen raises numerous arguments on appeal to challenge the district court's dismissal of her claims against Instar. She argues, among other things, that her personal injury claims against Instar are not time-barred because she did not discover the cause of her injury until June 12, 1992, and that the district court did not address her claims against Instar for violation of the California Labor, Business & Professional, Food & Agriculture, and Health & Safety Codes, and 7 U.S.C. Sec. 136(i)-(j), all of which have statutes of limitations longer than one year. 17 We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Jesinger v. Nevada Federal Credit Union, 24 F.3d 1127, 1130 (9th Cir.1994). The district court's dismissal on statute of limitations grounds is a mixed question of law and fact which we review for clear error. Rose v. United States, 905 F.2d 1257, 1259 (9th Cir.1990); Schultz v. Department of Army, 886 F.2d 1157, 1159 (9th Cir.1989).
18 Jensen suffered increasingly severe symptoms from 1977 to 1992. During that period, Jensen claims that she suspected the pesticide Malathion, which was sprayed by the state of California in 1979 to prevent the spread of the medfly, as the cause of her injuries. In 1981, she brought a legal action against the State of California and a helicopter company as a result of the Malathion medfly spraying. 5 19 On September 24, 1991, Jensen saw Dr. Ronald S. Greenwald, a neurologist. Dr. Greenwald wrote a letter dated September 30, 1991 to Jensen's referring physician which stated: 20 This is a 52-year-old, right-handed white female with a long history dating back ten years ago of being 'poisoned' with Malathion and lindane together. This was exposed to her skin for over 24 hours when they were spraying for the medfly outbreak ten years ago. She states that this was the beginning of her injury and accident.... She states that she has had many reactions to malathion.... 21 Jensen claims that she did not suspect that her injuries were caused by Instar's spraying of the Safrotin in her workplace until June 12, 1992. On that date, Jensen observed APM agents spraying Safrotin at her office during work hours, and suffered acute physical symptoms. Upon discovering the cause of her symptoms, Jensen led an effort to evacuate the building. 22 The discovery rule tolls California's one year statute of limitations for personal injury actions until such time as the plaintiff is or should reasonably be aware of her injury and its negligent cause. Jolly v. Eli Lilly & Co., 44 Cal.3d 1103, 1109 (1988). The limitations period begins when the plaintiff suspects, or should suspect, that she has been wronged. Id. at 1114. A plaintiff is held to actual knowledge as well as knowledge that could reasonably be discovered through investigation of sources open to her. Id. at 1109. 23 Prior to June 12, 1992, Jensen had no reason to suspect that Safrotin, a possible cause of her injuries, was being applied in her workplace. Until that date, when she acquired actual knowledge of the spraying, Jensen reasonably believed that her earlier Malathion exposure was the sole cause of her injuries. Dr. Greenwald's letter supported her hypothesis. We therefore find that the limitations period began to run on June 12, 1992, when Jensen first had reason to believe that pesticides sprayed in her workplace could be causing her injuries. Jensen's June 14, 1993 filing fell within the California's one-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions and is therefore timely. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's holding on this issue. 6
24 Jensen does not have standing to sue under the statutory provisions she cites in her complaints. The California statute requiring a pest control company to notice the owner and tenant of the premises on which work is to be done does not apply to Jensen as an employee of the owner and tenant of the premises. See Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code Sec. 8538. The duties of an employer stipulated by California's Occupational Safety & Health law do not apply to employers who are governmental entities. Cal.Lab.Code Sec. 6434. Federal and state pest control regulations do not give Jensen a right to sue. See 7 U.S.C. Secs. 136-136y (Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has authority to enforce federal pesticide control regulations); Cal.Food & Agric.Code Sec. 11501.5 (director and commissioner of each county have authority to enforce regulations of pest control operations); California Health and Safety Code Sec. 25249.7(d) (individual may sue in public interest only after she has given notice to Attorney General and district attorney and they do not prosecute said violation).