Opinion ID: 149607
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: American Family's Failure to Disclose Mr. Cahill's Entitlement to Enhanced PIP Benefits

Text: Mr. Cahill argues that the limitations periods on his claims were tolled by American Family's failure to disclose to him that he was entitled to enhanced PIP benefits. He appears to contend that because American Family did not make the disclosure until June 2007, the limitations periods governing his claims should not have begun to run until that date. We disagree. To begin our analysis, it is important to explain precisely what American Family allegedly failed to disclose. Mr. Cahill does not argue that American Family concealed the terms of its policy, the communications between American Family and the Cahill family regarding PIP coverage, the amount it had paid in benefits, or any other historical fact. The only matter not disclosed to Mr. Cahill was legal: the statutory mandate that American Family offer the opportunity to purchase additional coverage and the availability of reformation of the policy if the statutory mandate was violated. But it is knowledge of facts, not of the law, that controls the application of a statute of limitations. Under Colorado law a claim accrues when the plaintiff knows, or should know, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, all material facts essential to show the elements of that cause of action. Miller v. Armstrong World Indus., 817 P.2d 111, 113 (Colo.1991) (internal quotation marks omitted). A plaintiff's knowledge of the legal theory supporting a claim does not determine the date of accrual for that claim. Murry v. GuideOne Specialty Mut. Ins. Co., 194 P.3d 489, 494 (Colo.Ct.App.2008); see Olson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 174 P.3d 849, 855 (Colo.Ct.App.2007) ([T]he relevant issue is when a plaintiff discovers facts essential to the cause of action, not the legal theory upon which the cause of action would be based. (internal quotation marks omitted)). If a plaintiff need not know the law for a cause of action to accrue, then the defendant's failure to disclose the law should not delay the start of the limitations period. Tolling should arise only when the defendant conceals something that the plaintiff needed to know for his cause of action to accrue. We might also point out that the days of Caligula are long past. Today, the law is not concealed by inscribing it in small letters on tablets hung high, out of sight of the populus. The law, including Colorado law, is public and accessible to all in the exercise of reasonable diligence. Miller, 817 P.2d at 113 (internal quotation marks omitted). The authority cited by Mr. Cahill does not contradict what we have said. He relies on Colorado statutes and two Colorado Supreme Court decisions. In his view, the statutes required American Family to disclose to him its violation of CAARA and his entitlement to enhanced PIP benefits. And he reads the two court decisions as requiring equitable tolling whenever a defendant fails to disclose information that it was required by law to disclose to the plaintiff. See Garrett v. Arrowhead Improvement Ass'n, 826 P.2d 850 (Colo.1992); Shell W. E & P, Inc. v. Dolores County Bd. of Comm'rs, 948 P.2d 1002 (Colo.1997). But we reject his statutory arguments, and the cases that he cites are readily distinguishable. Mr. Cahill's briefs on appeal assert that three Colorado statutory provisions required American Family to disclose its CAARA violation. His opening brief cites Colo.Rev.Stat. §§ 10-3-1104(1)(h)(I) and 10-4-706(4)(a). His reply brief cites Colo. Rev.Stat. § 10-3-1104(1)(a)(I), but not the provisions cited in his opening brief. We address only § 10-3-1104(1)(h)(I). He did not preserve for appeal any argument predicated on § 10-4-706(4)(a), because he did not cite or otherwise rely on it in the district court. See Tele-Commc'ns, 104 F.3d at 1232-33. And his reliance on § 10-3-1104(1)(a)(I) in his reply brief on appeal was too late. See Hill, 478 F.3d at 1250-51. Not that Mr. Cahill's opening brief makes much of an argument regarding § 10-3-1104(1)(h)(I). He merely asserts, without explanation, that the disclosure was required by that section, which he describes as prohibiting an insurer from misrepresenting pertinent facts or insurance policy provisions relating to coverages at issue. Aplt. Br. at 13. His description of the provision is perfectly accurate. See Colo.Rev.Stat. § 10-3-1104(1)(h)(I) (Misrepresenting pertinent facts or insurance policy provisions relating to coverages at issue). But we are at a loss to see what fact (as opposed to a law) or policy provision was misrepresented by American Family. See Olson, 174 P.3d at 857 (§ 10-3-1104(1)(h)(I) does not impose duty on insurer to inform insured when limitations period would run). As for the case law relied upon by Mr. Cahill, it does not support equitable tolling for failure to disclose the law. In both Shell and Garrett what was undisclosed (and required to be disclosed) was a fact. Shell owned an oil-and-gas production unit that encompassed leaseholds in both Montezuma and Dolores Counties. See Shell, 948 P.2d at 1005. Although it was required to file gas-production information with each county for assessment of its ad-valorem-tax obligations, it filed its unit-production-value information with only Montezuma County from 1985 until 1990. See id. In 1992, after Shell began filing with both counties, the Dolores County Treasurer issued Shell a tax notice for tax years 1985 through 1990 based on Shell's unreported gas assets during that period. See id. Shell paid the taxes for 1986 through 1990, but it contested the 1985 assessment. It argued that the six-year limitations period for assessing unpaid taxes precluded Dolores County from assessing taxes for that year. See id. at 1006-07. The Colorado Supreme Court disagreed. The limitations period, it held, was equitably tolled because Shell's statutory violation in failing to inform the county of its assets prevented a timely assessment by the county. See id. at 1008. According to the court, it would have been manifestly unjust for Shell to assert a statute-of-limitations defense when its failure to file precluded the county from obtaining notice of Shell's gas production. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Garrett is similar. Garrett was injured while working for Arrowhead. See Garrett, 826 P.2d at 851. He filed a workers' compensation disability claim and received benefits until September 10, 1986. His injury worsened and he petitioned to reopen his claim so that he could seek additional disability benefits. The right to reopen a workers' compensation claim, however, was subject to a two-year limitations period that ran from the date of the last disability payment, and he did not file his petition until November 25, 1988, two months after the deadline. See id. at 851-52. But he had an excuse: He had been awaiting a medical report from his physiciana necessary component of a petition to reopen. See id. at 852. Arrowhead and its disability insurer had received this report on August 12, 1988, before the limitations period expired, but they had failed to share this report with Garrett, as required by regulation. See id. The Colorado Supreme Court held that the petition to reopen may have been timely because of equitable tolling. It recognized that [e]quity will toll a statute of limitations if a party fails to disclose information that he is legally required to reveal and the other party is prejudiced thereby. Id. at 855. The court remanded for further factual development. Here, in contrast, Mr. Cahill is not seeking equitable tolling based on a failure to disclose facts. And there would have been no sound reason for him to refrain from checking what the law was. We therefore reject his equitable-tolling argument.