Court Opinion

ID: 9580744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:08:22.562214+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:29.450953
License: Public Domain

SCHUMACHER, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The plain language of Minn.Stat. § 541.076 (2000) indicates a clear legislative intent to apply the four-year statute of limitations to all actions commenced on or after August 1, 1999. 1999 Minn. Laws ch. 23, § 3. Here, because the action was commenced after that effective date, the four-year statute of limitations should apply. The effective-date language at issue here is precisely the language that this court has previously deemed an expression of clear legislative intent to apply an amended statute of limitations retroactively. See LaVan v. Cmty. Clinic of Wabasha, 425 N.W.2d 842, 845 (Minn.App.1988).
Regarding revival, our caselaw has carved out exceptions for workers’ compensation and Minnesota Human Rights Act claims where effecting the clear legislative intent of retroactive application is not a violation of the public policy supporting statutes of limitations. See Wschola v. Snyder, 478 N.W.2d 225, 227-28 (Minn.App.1991) (reversing application of 300 day statute of limitations to MHRA claim filed 308 days after termination where legislature 'amended statute of limitations to one year), review denied (Minn. Feb. 10, 1992). In the medical malpractice context, where individuals may not know of the harm suffered until well after the date a cause may accrue, such an exception is well-founded and effects the clear legislative intent of retroactive application. I would reverse.