Opinion ID: 2052527
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Invocation of Fraudulent Concealment

Text: The third showing necessary to toll the statute of limitations and avoid summary judgment requires the plaintiff to invoke the equitable doctrine of fraudulent concealment and show that the defendant, through his own actions, concealed information or engaged in wrongful conduct which caused the plaintiff to repress memories of the abuse, thereby preventing discovery of the cause of action within the statutory period. See Fager, 610 N.E.2d at 251, 253. Equitable doctrines, in contrast to the stricter rules of common law, are available to the courts to administer justice according to fairness. With respect to fraudulent concealment, principles of equity always intervene... to prevent a party from gaining an advantage by wrongfully concealing an injury from one who does not become aware of the injury until a time after the statute of limitations has run. Guy v. Schuldt, 236 Ind. 101, 111-12, 138 N.E.2d 891, 895-96 (1956). To successfully invoke the equitable doctrine of fraudulent concealment and toll the statute of limitations to the time when plaintiff discovered the tort or recovered memories, plaintiffs must establish that the concealment or fraud was of such character as to prevent inquiry, or to elude investigation, or to mislead the plaintiff claiming the cause of action. Hughes v. Glaese, 659 N.E.2d 516, 520 (Ind.1995) (quoting Guy v. Schuldt, 236 Ind. 101, 138 N.E.2d 891, 894 (1956)). The Court of Appeals in the present case found that a plaintiff who claims repressed memory may carry this burden by presenting an expert affidavit. It stated that a plaintiff may carry this burden by submitting an affidavit by an expert witness supporting the scientific validity of repressed memory and establishing that the plaintiff's normal powers of perception and recollection had been obscured by the repressed memory as a result of the parent's sexual abuse. Cole, 677 N.E.2d. at 1074 (citing Fager, 610 N.E.2d at 252). While it is certainly true that an expert opinion must be provided to show that a plaintiff's memories were in fact repressed as a result of the parent's sexual abuse, the expert opinion alone is not enough to trigger the fraudulent concealment exception, and this was not our intention in Fager. In Steward v. State , we reviewed the different purposes for which expert opinions are used in cases of childhood sexual abuse and explicitly disallowed the use of expert opinion evidence to prove the defendant's acts. See 652 N.E.2d 490, 496-97 (Ind.1995). In other words, an expert opinion cannot be used as proof of the defendant's actions themselves, but can only be used to aid the jury in understanding conclusions drawn from these actions if taken as true. To reiterate, fraudulent concealment places a burden squarely on the plaintiff to point to the fraudulent or wrongful acts of the defendant. The purpose of the expert opinion evidence is to prove that, once the doctrine is invoked, a reason exists for the delayed commencement of a cause of action. Our finding that an expert opinion alone is insufficient to trigger the doctrine of fraudulent concealment does not leave Jane I. without a claim. Summary judgment was inappropriate in this case because Jane I., in her deposition testimony and through other designated evidence, pointed to those acts of the defendant which, when viewed in the light most favorable to her, constitute fraudulent concealment. As stated above, fraudulent concealment estops a defendant from asserting the statute of limitation when he has prevented the plaintiff from discovering a potential cause of action either by engaging in wrongful conduct such as deception, or by a violation of duty. See Fager, 610 N.E.2d at 253. The facts of the present case are sufficient to raise a material factual dispute as to whether Shults-Lewis violated a duty toward Jane I. or engaged in wrongful conduct by deceiving her. The evidence when viewed most favorable to Jane I. shows that Shults-Lewis may be estopped from asserting the statute of limitations by reason of fraudulent concealment. Shults-Lewis owed Jane I. the duty a guardian owes a child. Indeed, Jane I. was not able to pursue a claim against her caretakers because her caretakers failed in their ongoing duty to inform her of the facts and because the abuse under the facts of this case constituted wrongful conduct, all of which concealed from her information necessary to bring her claim upon reaching the age of majority. There is evidence in the record that various employees were either engaging in the abuse, or made aware of the abuse. [5] Therefore, Jane I. raised a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether the fraudulent concealment exception to the statute of limitations was triggered by deception or a violation of this fiduciary duty, making summary judgment inappropriate on this basis.