Opinion ID: 1830951
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The State Discovery Exception Applies to Claims for Property Damages.

Text: ¶ 10. Section 15-1-49 states: (1) All actions for which no other period of limitation is prescribed shall be commenced within three (3) years next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after. (2) In actions for which no other period of limitation is prescribed and which involve latent injury or disease, the cause of action does not accrue until the plaintiff has discovered, or by reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury. (3) The provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall apply to all pending and subsequently filed actions. Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-49 (1995)(emphasis added). Donald asserts that the discovery exception has been interpreted by this Court to preserve any undiscovered claim. In this case, the contamination caused by the Defendants is invisible and therefore inherently undiscoverable. ¶ 11. As authority for his contentions, Donald cites several of this Court's cases. A discovery exception has been applied in legal malpractice cases; See Smith v. Sneed, 638 So.2d 1252 (Miss.1994) (statute of limitations in legal malpractice begins to run on date client learns or should have learned of lawyer's negligence); in defamation cases; Staheli v. Smith, 548 So.2d 1299 (Miss.1989) (discovery rule applies to time of accrual of defamation action under Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-35); in bodily injury cases; Williams v. Kilgore, 618 So.2d 51 (Miss.1992); (discovery rule applied to medical malpractice actions involving latent injuries); and in worker's compensation cases; Benoist Elevator Co. v. Mitchell, 485 So.2d 1068 (Miss.1986) (application of discovery rule to Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-35(1) for worker's compensation benefits for latent injuries). ¶ 12. Specifically, Donald asserts that the discovery exception should apply, because the presence of radioactive waste was detectable only through the use of a survey meter and the waste was buried in pits. This waste includes radioactive material produced by oil and gas exploration which was not apparent nor discovered prior to 1995. He looks to the theory behind why the Legislature and this Court first adopted such exceptions. In holding that the discovery exception applies to medical malpractice actions, this Court stated, If the statute is ambiguous, we place upon it a construction which favors preservation of the plaintiff's cause of action. Williams, 618 So.2d at 55. It is well established that the statute of limitations does not run against one who has neither actual nor constructive notice of the facts that would entitle him to bring an action. Id. Furthermore, the Legislature adopted the discovery rule because it is illogical to bar an action before its existence is known. Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. Edwards, 573 So.2d 704, 708 (Miss.1990). Likewise, Donald argues it is illogical to bar an inherently undiscovered claim for property damage. ¶ 13. In contrast, the Defendants argue a cause of action accrues and the statute begins to run on the day of the wrongful act or no later than the date an injury occurs. Williams, 618 So.2d at 54. Under Donald's allegations, the wrongful act of waste disposal on the property occurred no later than the last disposal by the Davis Brothers. Thus, since Donald did not own the property when the wrongful act occurred, he has no claim for property contamination that pre-dated his purchase. A new cause of action does not and should not accrue every time the property is transferred. The Defendants' argument in this regard misses the point of the discovery exception. The issue is whether the discovery exception should apply under the facts as alleged by Donald, i.e. he discovered property contamination unknown to the Davis Brothers after his purchase and the running of the three-year statute of limitations. ¶ 14. Defendants next argue more responsively that Donald's allegations are inconsistent with this Court's limited application of a discovery exception, because Donald has not alleged that he could not have discovered with reasonable diligence the alleged contamination prior to or at the time he purchased the property. Defendants direct this Court's attention to a federal district case applying Texas law to somewhat similar facts. Jones v. Texaco, Inc., 945 F.Supp. 1037 (S.D.Tex.1996). There, the district court held that the discovery rule was inapplicable, because the existence of the pits and the presence of oil sediment and other wastes on the plaintiff's property were not inherently undiscoverable. Id. at 1044. ¶ 15. Jones appears persuasive until one recognizes that the facts are not as similar as the Defendants would like. The Jones court said: Here, this goal [of requiring the timely assertion of claims while the evidence is fresh in the minds of the parties and witnesses] can best be effectuated by finding the plaintiffs' action to be timebarred. Any witnesses with knowledge concerning the deposit of hazardous wastes in the pits between 1904 and 1969 would likely be dead, retired, or of unknown whereabouts. Even if located and alive, a witness's memory of events that occurred at a minimum twenty-seven years ago would be distorted by the passage of time and could not be considered fresh. Relevant documents also would likely have been destroyed over the course of the last ninety-two years. Therefore, the events at issue in this case are not just stale, they are rancid. Under these circumstances, applying the discovery rule to preclude the running of limitations is not warranted.[FN1] FN1. Even if the discovery rule applied, the plaintiffs' causes of action would be timebarred. The record reflects that Jones had actual notice of the contamination of the property by 1991 or 1992 and that General Truck was aware of the contamination by September 1993. The other plaintiffs had constructive notice of the contamination by virtue of the reference to the pits containing oil sediment and other wastes in the deed records. Id. at 1044 (citation omitted). Here, Donald missed the three year limitation period by less than two years which can hardly be said to be stale. Further, all witnesses are most likely still alive and should still have fresh memories. Finally, Donald alleges he had no notice whatsoever about the contamination to the property. ¶ 16. Donald argues that there is no evidence that the Davis Brothers, as former owners, knew they were handling radioactive materials. This Court has said that the statute of limitations commences upon discovery of an injury, and discovery is an issue of fact to be decided by a jury when there is a genuine dispute. Schiro v. American Tobacco Co., 611 So.2d 962 (Miss.1992) (Schiro, a smoker, filed suit following a diagnosis of cancer). The damage is not readily apparent to ordinary, prudent person, because the presence of radioactive waste is detectable only through the use of a survey meter. Finally, Donald's Amended Complaint states that the Oil Defendants failed to warn anyone about the radioactive materials produced by their wells, and therefore, no one knew the true nature of what was being disposed. ¶ 17. The Defendants argue that even if a discovery exception applies Donald's claim fails because the presence of the waste on the property was not latent. Thus, the parties are in dispute over whether the waste was readily apparent or inherently undiscoverable. As mentioned above, the Schiro Court held that genuine disputes as to the ability to discover a latent injury are questions of fact to be decided by a jury. 611 So.2d at 962. ¶ 18. In refusing to apply the discovery exception, the lower court stated, as follows: [T]he state of Mississippi does not recognize a discovery rule for an action seeking recovery for injury to property.... The allegations all concern damage to property. The Mississippi Supreme Court has not chosen to carve out a discovery rule for property damage claims. This court is bound to apply the law as it is today.... However, this Court has applied the discovery exception where the plaintiff will be precluded from discovering harm or injury because of the secretive or inherently undiscoverable nature of the wrongdoing in question. Staheli, 548 So.2d at 1303. Or, the discovery exception may be applied when it is unrealistic to expect a layman to perceive the injury at the time of the wrongful act. Smith, 638 So.2d at 1257. Donald is a layman who realistically could not be expected to perceive the secret injury to the subject property until it was readily apparent as traceable radioactive waste by use of a survey meter. ¶ 19. Recognizing Donald's allegations as true and with this logic in mind, it only seems equitable that the discovery exception should apply in the unique facts of the instant case. To hold otherwise would not only undermine the purposes for which statutes of limitations exist, but would also engender disrespect for our civil justice system. Edwards, 573 So.2d at 708-09. To time bar Donald's claims would put undue burden and cost on subsequent purchasers of real property in the form of phase I environmental reports, which are both costly and time-consuming. Therefore, we conclude that the lower court erred in failing to apply the discovery exception.