Opinion ID: 2060706
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the accrual of appellants' claims

Text: When a motion to dismiss based upon the statute of limitations relies on matters beyond the four corners of the pleadings, as in these cases, [3] it is treated as a motion for summary judgment. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 12(b); see Knight v. Furlow, 553 A.2d 1232, 1233 (D.C.1989). Such a motion may not be granted if there is a genuine issue as to any material fact. See Super. Ct. Civ. R. 56(c). To defeat a summary judgment motion, therefore, the opposing party need only show that there is sufficient evidence supporting the claimed factual dispute to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties' differing versions of the truth at trial. Nader v. de Toledano, 408 A.2d 31, 42 (D.C.1979) (citation omitted), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1078, 100 S.Ct. 1028, 62 L.Ed.2d 761 (1980). The applicable statute of limitations in these cases provides that an action must be brought within three years from the time the right to maintain the action accrues. D.C.Code § 12-301(8) (1995). When the potential plaintiff is a minor at the time of accrual, he may bring the action within three years of his eighteenth birthday. D.C.Code § 12-302(a)(1) (1995). What constitutes the accrual of a cause of action is a question of law; the actual date of accrual, however, is a question of fact. Diamond v. Davis, 680 A.2d 364, 370 (D.C.1996); see also Bussineau v. President & Directors of Georgetown College, 518 A.2d 423, 425 (D.C.1986); Ehrenhaft v. Malcolm Price, Inc., 483 A.2d 1192, 1204 (D.C.1984). Thus we must ascertain whether there is a genuine issue as to any material fact concerning the date on which appellants' claims accrued; if not, and if the date of accrual was more than three years before they filed their respective complaints, then the Archbishop is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 56(c). The parties disagree as to the legal standard to be applied in determining the date of accrual of appellants' claims. Appellants argue that the so-called discovery rule is applicable to their claims and that the Archdiocese's fraudulent concealment of its wrongdoing delayed accrual until the publication of the Washington Post articles in 1995. The Archbishop contends that the discovery rule is inapplicable and that, in any event, appellants have not alleged facts that would support a tolling of the limitations period under the discovery rule. We need not resolve this dispute, because the outcome of these cases would be the same regardless of whether the discovery rule is or is not applicable. Under both the general rule of claim accrual and the discovery rule exception, the statute of limitations begins to run when a plaintiff either has actual knowledge of a cause of action or is charged with knowledge of that cause of action. Diamond v. Davis, supra, 680 A.2d at 372; see also Burns v. Bell, 409 A.2d 614, 615 (D.C.1979) (where the fact of injury is readily discernible, the cause of action accrues when the injury occurs). Our recent decision in Diamond v. Davis use[d] the term `notice' to refer to the quantum of knowledge required to commence the running of the statute of limitations in a particular case. 680 A.2d at 372. We then divided notice into two categories: actual notice and inquiry notice. `[A]ctual notice' is that notice which a plaintiff actually possesses; `inquiry notice' is that notice which a plaintiff would have possessed after due investigation. Id. (citation omitted). We made clear in Diamond that either actual notice or inquiry notice will be sufficient to start the clock running under the statute of limitations. Since there is no assertion here that any of these appellants had actual notice of a claim against the Archdiocese at any time prior to 1995, we must determine when they were placed on inquiry notice of their several claims. Appellants contend that a plaintiff must have knowledge of each essential element of any cause of action in order to be charged with inquiry notice, and that fraudulent concealment by the defendant will toll the accrual of his claims. The Archbishop disagrees, arguing that the threshold level of knowledge required of a plaintiff is something less than the each element test suggested by appellants. We agree with the Archbishop. In the District of Columbia, a plaintiff can be charged with inquiry notice of his claims even if he is not actually aware of each essential element of his cause of action. This court has repeatedly held that a claim accrues when the plaintiff knows of (1) an injury, (2) its cause, and (3) some evidence of wrongdoing. Diamond, supra, 680 A.2d at 379-380; Knight, supra, 553 A.2d at 1236; Bussineau, supra, 518 A.2d at 425. Appellants' assertion of an each element or all elements test of accrual is without support in the case law: The fact that [the plaintiff] did not [initially] comprehend the full extent of all possible sequelae does not matter, for the law of limitations requires only that she have inquiry notice of the existence of a cause of action for personal injury. Baker v. A.H. Robins Co., 613 F.Supp. 994, 996 (D.D.C.1985) (emphasis in original; citations omitted), cited with approval in Colbert v. Georgetown University, 641 A.2d 469, 473 (D.C.1994) (en banc). For the reasons that follow, we hold that appellant Cevenini was on inquiry notice of his claims against Father Schaefer no later than 1991, and that appellants Nelson and Brenner were similarly charged with inquiry notice in 1983, when they turned eighteen. [4] We further hold that appellants' claims against the Archdiocese accrued simultaneously with their claims against Father Schaefer. Since none of these appellants filed suit until 1995, their actions are time-barred. Cevenini's complaint alleges that he suffered from at least partial memory repression of his abuse at the time it occurred, and we must assume that to be the case for purposes of our review. Colbert, supra, 641 A.2d at 472. What is not disputed, however, but is in fact acknowledged in the complaint, is that Cevenini began to recover memories of sexual molestation at the hands of Schaefer as early as 1991, and that he knew at that time that Father Schaefer had been assigned to St. John's parish by the Archdiocese. Cevenini suggests that because he remained unaware of the impact of Father Schaefer's abuse until 1993 at the earliest, he cannot be charged with inquiry notice until then. Our case law does not support his argument. We have held in many cases that inquiry notice will be charged to a plaintiff when he is aware of an injury, its cause, and some evidence of wrongdoing. E.g., Diamond, supra, 680 A.2d at 380. But we have never held that accrual should be tolled until the plaintiff fully appreciates the impact of the harm directed at him, and we see no reason to impose such a requirement here. The instant cases are not unlike the Colbert case, a medical malpractice action in which we charged the plaintiff with inquiry notice of her claims as soon as she was aware of the fact that her doctor had misdiagnosed and mistreated her breast cancer. We held that at the time Mrs. Colbert became aware of the misdiagnosis, she had suffered appreciable and actual harm sufficient to place her on inquiry notice of her claims, even though the metastasis of her cancer did not occur until four years later. Colbert, supra, 641 A.2d at 473. We therefore affirmed a summary judgment in favor of the physicians and the hospital responsible for the misdiagnosis. Cevenini was aware of his injuries no later than 1991. The fact that he may not have been aware then of their full impact is analogous to Mrs. Colbert's initial lack of metastasis. Just as we declined in Colbert to toll the statute of limitations until the plaintiff fully realized that her illness had been misdiagnosed, we similarly decline to toll the statute in Cevenini's case. Here, as in Colbert, the facts relevant to the issue of inquiry notice are set forth in Cevenini's complaint, which acknowledges (1) an awareness of injuries (both mental and physical), (2) their cause in fact (sexual abuse), and (3) some evidence of wrongdoing (knowledge that Father Schaefer was the abuser) as early as 1991. Although Cevenini may not have appreciated the full impact of Father Schaefer's misconduct until later, such an awareness exceeds the quantum of knowledge required to put a plaintiff on inquiry notice under Colbert and Diamond. Because Cevenini was aware of his injuries, their cause, and some evidence of wrongdoing in 1991, he is charged with inquiry notice of his claims against Father Schaefer as of that time. [5] Nelson's and Brenner's cases are easier to resolve because neither of them makes any allegation of memory loss or memory repression. According to their respective complaints, when Nelson and Brenner turned eighteen in 1983, each of them was fully aware of his injuries (both mental and physical), their cause in fact (sexual abuse), and at least some evidence of wrongdoing (knowledge that Father Schaefer was the abuser). Like Cevenini, Nelson and Brenner acknowledged in their complaints that they knew Father Schaefer had been assigned to the parish by the Archdiocese. For the reasons already discussed with respect to Cevenini, it follows from Diamond and Colbert that by 1983 both Nelson and Brenner had the minimum quantum of knowledge necessary to be charged with inquiry notice of their claims against Father Schaefer. Diamond, supra, 680 A.2d at 379. As appellants have noted, the critical event in these cases is not the accrual of their claims against Father Schaefer, but rather the accrual of their claims against the Archdiocese. Prior to Diamond v. Davis , we had not decided whether a plaintiff's knowledge of misconduct by one defendant placed that plaintiff on notice of claims against a potential co-defendant. In Diamond, however, we adopted the approach of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [6] and declared: [T]he plaintiff's knowledge of wrongdoing on the part of one defendant did not cause accrual of his action against another, unknown defendant responsible for the same harm, unless the two defendants were closely connected, such as in a superiorsubordinate relationship. Diamond, supra, 680 A.2d at 380 (footnote omitted; emphasis added). We went on to hold: In some circumstances ... the relationship of the defendants, together with other facts, may establish as a matter of law that a reasonable plaintiff with knowledge of the misconduct of one would have conducted an investigation as to the other. If that investigation would, as a matter of law, have revealed some evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the other defendant, then the cause of action will have accrued as to both. Id. (footnote omitted). Thus Diamond makes clear that while knowledge of misconduct on the part of one defendant will not automatically create inquiry notice of claims against a potential co-defendant, such notice may be charged to the plaintiff if (1) a reasonable plaintiff would have conducted an investigation as to the co-defendant, and (2) such an investigation would have revealed some evidence of wrongdoing. According to their complaints, all three appellants were aware from the outset that it was the Archdiocese that had assigned Father Schaefer to St. John's and that Schaefer's role was that of a subordinate representative of the Archdiocese. It is also undisputed that the alleged acts of abuse occurred on church premises, while Father Schaefer was functioning as a representative of the Archdiocese. In these circumstances, we conclude that a reasonable plaintiff would have investigated his potential claims against the Archdiocese at the same time that his claims accrued against its representative. Because there is no evidence of fraudulent concealment by the Archdiocese, [7] a reasonably diligent investigation would have revealed at least some evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Archdiocese (assuming arguendo that such wrongdoing had occurred). Consequently, we hold that appellants' claims against the Archdiocese accrued simultaneously with their claims against Father Schaefer.