Opinion ID: 1627367
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the delayed discovery doctrine

Text: The delayed discovery doctrine generally provides that a cause of action does not accrue until the plaintiff either knows or reasonably should know of the tortious act giving rise to the cause of action. See Hillsborough Community Mental Health Ctr. v. Harr, 618 So.2d 187, 189 (Fla.1993); 35 Fla. Jur.2d Limitations and Laches § 60 (1996). The United States Supreme Court applied the blameless ignorance doctrine in Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 170, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949), thereby delaying the accrual of a cause of action until the plaintiff reasonably discovered the right of action, reasoning that the traditional purposes of statutes of limitations ... require the assertion of claims within a specified period of time after notice of the invasion of legal rights. Id. This Court adopted the doctrine into Florida law as the delayed discovery doctrine. City of Miami v. Brooks, 70 So.2d 306, 309 (Fla.1954). See Kush v. Lloyd, 616 So.2d 415, 418 (Fla.1992); Creviston v. General Motors Corp., 225 So.2d 331, 334 (Fla.1969) (explaining that the accrual of the [underlying cause of action] must coincide with the aggrieved party's discovery or duty to discover the act constituting an invasion of his legal rights). Thus, application of the delayed discovery doctrine to the accrual of a cause of action and, therefore, to the running of a statute of limitation is not new to Florida law.