Opinion ID: 1904242
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Heading: general law re limitations

Text: The three years within which a civil action at law must be filed measures from the date it accrues unless another provision of the Code provides a different period of time within which an action shall be commenced. Md.Code (1974, 1984 Repl.Vol.), § 5-101 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article (Courts Article). Poffenberger v. Risser, 290 Md. 631, 636, 431 A.2d 677, 680 (1981) held that the discovery rule [is] applicable generally in all actions and the cause of action accrues when the claimant in fact knew or reasonably should have known of the wrong. This latter alternative contemplates ... awareness implied from knowledge of circumstances which ought to have put a person of ordinary prudence on inquiry [thus, charging the individual] with notice of all facts which such an investigation would in all probability have disclosed if it had been properly pursued. [ Id. at 637, 431 A.2d at 681.] Also relevant is Courts Article § 5-203 which provides: If a party is kept in ignorance of a cause of action by the fraud of an adverse party, the cause of action shall be deemed to accrue at the time when the party discovered, or by the exercise of ordinary diligence should have discovered the fraud. In order to benefit from this statute, a claimant need not show, in addition to the fraud complained of, a separate fraud which conceals the fraud complained of. Wear v. Skinner, 46 Md. 257, 267 (1877); see also Brack v. Evans, 230 Md. 548, 187 A.2d 880 (1963); Citizens National Bank v. Leffler, 228 Md. 262, 179 A.2d 686 (1962); Piper v. Jenkins, 207 Md. 308, 113 A.2d 919 (1955); Berman v. Leckner, 188 Md. 321, 52 A.2d 464 (1947); New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Swain, 100 Md. 558, 60 A. 469 (1905). In James v. Weisheit, 279 Md. 41, 367 A.2d 482 (1977), we dealt with a defense of limitations to a common law fraud action prior to the general adoption of the discovery rule in Poffenberger, supra . There we said: This Court has determined that deceit actions accrue when the wrong is discovered or when with due diligence it should have been discovered, see Citizens Bank v. Leffler, 228 Md. 262, 269, 179 A.2d 686, 690 (1962); Sears v. Barker, 155 Md. 323, 330, 141 A. 908, 911 (1928); cf. Leonhart v. Atkinson, 265 Md. 219, 224, 289 A.2d 1, 4 (1972) (applying this rule to professional malpractice cases), assuming, of course, that all elements of the cause of action exist at that time. [279 Md. at 45 n. 4, 367 A.2d at 485 n. 4.] James and Courts Article § 5-203 literally speak of accrual occurring when the wrong should have been discovered. This phraseology raises the question whether the period required for any investigation which should have been prompted by notice and which would have led to the discovery of the fraud precedes the date of accrual and is to be excluded from the three-year period of limitations. The facts in our prior cases have not involved a relatively extended period of discovery so that we have not focused on this aspect of the discovery rule. For example, in James, the plaintiff knew for more than three years before suit all of the facts comprising the alleged fraud. Specifically, that plaintiff, the holder of a take-back, second mortgage, knew that the amount of the allegedly fraudulently imposed first mortgage lien greatly exceeded the amount to which the plaintiff had agreed to subordinate. We held that accrual of the deceit action was not postponed until the plaintiff learned whether foreclosure of the first mortgage produced a deficiency on the second mortgage debt. The Court of Special Appeals, however, has addressed the problem in a medical malpractice case which correctly applies Poffenberger. Lutheran Hospital v. Levy, 60 Md. App. 227, 482 A.2d 23 (1984). The limitations issue in that case was the subject of a separate trial under former Maryland Rule 501. Following treatment for a broken ankle the plaintiff had been advised in February 1974 to resume walking without crutches. In April 1974 a doctor at another hospital who examined the ankle told the plaintiff that it was all messed up, asked who the hell told you to walk on that ankle? and told her the ankle wouldn't get any better. Suit was filed in June 1978. The trial court held the action was timely, after determining that the plaintiff was not on notice until early 1975 after which there was a reasonable period for investigation of six months before accrual. The Court of Special Appeals held the action was barred as a matter of law, based upon the plaintiff's uncontradicted testimony. Addressing the trial court's rationale, the intermediate appellate court, through Judge Adkins, said: The trial judge also held that limitations did not begin to run until six months after the date upon which he erroneously found that Ms. Levy had become suspicious. This was incorrect as a matter of law. Under the discovery rule as stated in Poffenberger limitations begin to run when a claimant gains knowledge sufficient to put her on inquiry. As of that date, she is charged with knowledge of facts that would have been disclosed by a reasonably diligent investigation. The beginning of limitations is not postponed until the end of an additional period deemed reasonable for making the investigation.... From that date the statute itself allows sufficient time  three years  for reasonably diligent inquiry and for making a decision as to whether to file suit. See Pierce v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 296 Md. 656, 668, 464 A.2d 1020 (1983). This application of the discovery rule serves the legislative policy that underlies the statute of limitations, id. at 665, 464 A.2d 1020, and at the same time puts the discovery rule claimant on a par with the claimant who has actual knowledge at the time of the tort such as the normal automobile-accident plaintiff. The latter has three years from the date of the accident within which to investigate further, obtain expert opinion, discuss settlement, and file suit. The former is given the same time period within which to do these things, beginning from the date that circumstances have put her to that inquiry which charges her with knowledge of the additional information that might be gleaned from a reasonably diligent investigation conducted within the three-year period. [60 Md. App. at 237-38, 482 A.2d at 27-28.]