Opinion ID: 677570
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The state law waste claim

Text: 30 The district court held that Nichols discovered the leak (and hence, the basis for the waste claim) at least by October 17, 1985, on which date Nichols sent a letter to William Knight of Unocal stating that Unocal representatives were aware of leaking gas tanks prior to the lease expiration, that Nichols had had complaints from neighbors about gas smell in the sewers, and that Nichols was exposed to clean-up fees as a result of leaking gas tanks. [See SER 22-27.] The district court granted summary judgment to Unocal for Cash Flow's failure to file within six years of the date of this letter. See O.R.S. Sec. 12.080(3) (six year statute of limitations). 31 A grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Jones v. Union Pacific R.R., 968 F.2d 937, 940 (9th Cir.1992). The panel must determine, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. Gizoni v. Southwest Marine, Inc., 909 F.2d 385, 387 (9th Cir.1990), aff'd, 112 S.Ct. 486 (1991). 32 Cash Flow first claims that there was a genuine issue of fact when Nichols discovered the gasoline leak. Cash Flow contends that Nichols did not discover the leak until June 16, 1986, when the gasoline pool was uncovered during the excavation for a third underground storage tank, although Nichols suspected the existence of a leak before then. The language of the letter, however, belies Cash Flow's contention: it clearly shows that Nichols knew (or thought) there was a leak. 33 The fact that Nichols may not have been aware of the extent of the gasoline leak prior to the excavation does not toll the statute of limitations. Awareness of the full extent of harm is not necessary for a cause of action to accrue. Raethke v. Oregon Health Sciences Univ., 837 P.2d 977, 979 (Or.App.1992), rev' denied, 847 P.2d 410 (1993). A statute of limitations is not suspended for purposes of allowing a plaintiff to develop facts to support or identify a theory of recovery or ... to learn 'all of the facts which they might ultimately be able to advance to support their claim.'  Duyck v. Tualatin Valley Irrigation Dist., 742 P.2d 1176, 1183 (Or.1987). Once a plaintiff is aware he has been harmed, he must determine whether to sue or not within the statutory period, 'which is precisely the same judgment that other tort claimants must make.'  Id. (quotation omitted). 34 Cash Flow is incorrect that the district court imposed a requirement that Cash Flow identify the precise point at which the storage tanks began leaking. The district court held that the statute of limitations for waste began to run when Nichols knew about the leak, not when the leak began. 35 We also reject Cash Flow's argument that the statute of limitations began to run when it sustained clean-up costs. The injury for which Cash Flow sued Unocal in its waste claim is the damage to the property--the gasoline leak, not the clean-up costs, is the injury. A cause of action accrues when the party owning it has a right to sue on it. Id. at 1181. Cash Flow had a right to sue for waste when Nichols knew the storage tank was leaking. 3 36 However, we agree with Cash Flow that Unocal is judicially estopped from arguing that Nichols had knowledge of the leak. 4 [J]udicial estoppel precludes a party from assuming a position in a legal proceeding inconsistent with the position previously asserted. Caplener v. United States Nat'l Bank, 857 P.2d 830, 837 (Or.1993), citing Oneida Motor Freight, Inc. v. United Jersey Bank, 848 F.2d 414 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 967 (1988). Throughout the litigation Unocal took the position that there was no evidence that gasoline had escaped from the tank during its period of ownership. In arguing to dismiss the waste claim, however, Unocal argued that Nichols knew during this same time period that the tanks had leaked. These positions were inconsistent. 37 Moreover, Unocal's inconsistent position was adopted by the district court. See Couch v. Scandinavian-American Bank, 103 Or. 48, 57, 197 P. 284 (Or.1922) (A party who has assumed a particular position in judicial proceedings, and has succeeded in maintaining that position, is estopped to assume a position inconsistent therewith to the prejudice of the adverse party) (citation omitted); Stevens Technical Services, Inc. v. SS Brooklyn, 885 F.2d 585, 589 (9th Cir.1989) (most circuits refuse to apply judicial estoppel unless the inconsistent positions are adopted by the court). In the same order granting Unocal's motion for summary judgment on the waste claim because Nichols knew about the leak by October 17, 1985, the district court denied Cash Flow's motion for partial summary judgment on the contribution claim, holding that a fact issue remained as to whether the acts or omissions that resulted in the leak occurred while defendant was the undisputed owner of the facility. [ER 1 at 3.] In essence, the district court held that there was a material fact at issue about when the leak occurred (i.e. whether the leak occurred prior to April 30, 1985), but not a material fact that the plaintiff knew about the leak as early as October 17, 1985. 38 We hold that Unocal is judicially estopped from arguing that Nichols knew about the leak prior to the excavation in which the pool of gasoline was found. We thus reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds, and remand this claim for further proceedings. 39