Opinion ID: 502424
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: claims in tort and under chapter 93a

Text: 36 The district court ruled that the remaining three statements of claim were all time-barred. To reiterate briefly, these claims sounded, respectively, in negligence (Count II), fraud (Count III), and unfair trade practices (Count IV). The court held that the first two of these initiatives had to be brought within three years, 9 and the last within four years. 10 No party in interest disputes that these limitation periods apply. In a diversity case, we must enforce them. See Molinar v. Western Electric Co., 525 F.2d 521, 531 (1st Cir.1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 978, 96 S.Ct. 1485, 47 L.Ed.2d 748 (1976). 37 Unanimity of opinion as to overall time parameters is but a piece of the puzzle; what remains at issue is appellant's contention that the times (three and four years, respectively) had not run. Of necessity, this calls for ascertainment of the date(s) on which the claims accrued. Appellant maintains that none of the claims underlying Counts II, III, and IV matured until June 7, 1982 at the earliest (when Palco executed the release and certificate of final payment). This, we think, is too generous an assessment. 38 Under Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 260, Sec. 2B, causes of action which sound in negligence accrue no later than the time when a party gains knowledge (actual or constructive) that it has sustained an injury. White v. Peabody Constr. Co., 386 Mass. 121, 129-30, 434 N.E.2d 1015, 1020 (1982). 11 Similarly, actions which implicate Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 260, Sec. 5A accrue when plaintiff knows or reasonably should have known of harm attributable to a defendant's conduct. Levin v. Berley, 728 F.2d 551, 556 (1st Cir.1984). Accordingly, the clock began to tick on Palco's claims at the time when it knew, or should have known, that an injury stemming from defendants' acts or omissions had been visited upon it. 39 The record is incontrovertibly clear that, by the end of the summer of 1980 at the outside, plaintiff knew that the steel work could not be finished on schedule. It was equally evident, from plaintiff's coign of vantage, that the lag was a direct and adverse consequence of the ongoing labor problems. At that time, Palco concluded that Bechtel and Mass. Electric were the parties responsible for the difficulties and the consequent delay because they had been totally ineffective in their enforcement of the PLA. Thus, by mid-1980, appellant learned of the incidence and adverse impact of the labor problems at the job site, knew that the defendants were to blame, and was aware, by its own admission, that neither Bechtel nor Mass. Electric were prepared to take any corrective action whatever. As plaintiff's agent, Demand, put it: 40 ... by mid-September [1980], the coffee breaks had been quietly incorporated into the project by default. [Palco] could not prevent these coffee breaks and Bechtel and the Owner chose not to.... It was obvious to [Palco] that nothing was going to be done about this situation. 41 As is evidenced by Palco's September 11, 1980 letter to Bechtel (a telling excerpt from which is quoted supra at 986), plaintiff unquestionably knew by then that it had sustained precisely the injury of which it complains in this lawsuit. Indeed, the claim submission compiled by Demand on Palco's behalf in the fall of 1982 left no room to doubt that every last dime's worth of the supposed damages arose in the mid-1980 time frame. 12 42 Appellant contends, notwithstanding, that June 7, 1982 is the appropriate accrual date. It hypothesizes that it did not know with certainty until then that the prospect of additional compensation for the delays was fantastical. But even if true, that is of little consequence. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has repeatedly held that a cause of action accrues on the happening of an event likely to put the plaintiff on notice. Hendrickson v. Sears, 365 Mass. 83, 89, 310 N.E.2d 131, 135 (1974). See also White, 386 Mass. at 129, 434 N.E.2d at 1020; Friedman v. Jablonski, 371 Mass. 482, 485-86, 358 N.E.2d 994, 997 (1976). The notice which the law requires is notice of the facts and circumstances giving rise to the claim--not notice as to whether the tortfeasor will pay. Cf. Mansfield v. GAF Corp., 5 Mass.App.Ct. 551, 555, 364 N.E.2d 1292, 1295 (1977) (cause of action accrued when leaks in roof discovered, not when plaintiff later learned satisfactory repair impossible). If the law were otherwise, statutes of limitations would be meaningless, for they would not begin to run until the injured party had satisfied itself that its antagonist would not do the decent thing. Such a subjective standard would wreak havoc with the law's ability to grant repose and would be an open invitation to the assertion of the stalest of claims. 13 43 We need go no further. Palco had the requisite notice by September 11, 1980 at the latest; it knew that appellees were permitting the offensive coffee breaks to transpire and that its construction schedule had bogged down, with the consequent loss of man hours and profits. The statements of claim limned in Counts II, III and IV of the complaint were all subject to limitation periods of no more than four years. Because no genuine issue of material fact existed as to when these causes of action accrued, and since accrual thereof was complete approximately four and one half years before legal action was instituted, the claims were time-barred.