Court Opinion

ID: 9560135
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:43:41.40651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:12.075749
License: Public Domain

Judge DUBOFSKY
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
Under the discovery rule, an action only accrues when the essential aspects of the tort (wrongful conduct, injury, and causation) are known or should have been known to the plaintiffs by the exercise of reasonable diligence. Mastro v. Brodie, 682 P.2d 1162 (Colo.1984). This discovery rule is intended to prevent injustices which would result from a literal application of the statute of limitations. See Davis v. Bonebrake, 135 Colo. 506, 313 P.2d 982 (1957); § 13-80-108, C.R.S. (1987 Repl.Vol. 6A). A corollary of this underlying policy is the principle that, in all but the clearest of cases, the jury should decide whether plaintiffs’ claims are barred under the discovery rule. Davis v. Bonebrake, supra.
In my view, here, there are factual disputes as to when plaintiffs learned of their injuries and their likely cause by their sexual relationships with defendant. Although the plaintiffs’ affidavits indicate they were aware of some psychological problems when these sexual relationships began, the record is silent as to whether these initial problems continued with the plaintiffs past the age of majority. The fact that plaintiffs experienced some initial psychological problems from having sexual relationships with defendant does not, as a matter of law, give them notice that these relationships would result in subsequent serious psychological problems that were causally related to their prior sexual relationships with defendant. Indeed, plaintiffs’ affidavits demonstrate that they were unaware of the true nature and extent of their serious psychological problems until they received therapeutic treatment in the mid-1980’s.
Under our discovery rule, before a plaintiff is charged with knowledge of the nature of an injury, the evidence must demonstrate that the plaintiff had an appreciation of the extent, severity, and likely duration of the injury. See Mastro v. Brodie, supra; Gleason v. Guzman, 623 P.2d 378 (Colo.1981).
Here, the treating psychologists’ affidavits diagnosed plaintiffs as presently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, sexual-dysfunction, and an inability to establish close relationships. These affidavits state that these problems resulted from plaintiffs’ sexual relationships with defendant.
The evidence here strongly indicates that neither plaintiff was aware of the nature or the causal connection with her earlier sexual relationship with defendant. Victims of incest are often unaware of the nature, depth, and cause of such problems. See Salten, Statutes of Limitations in Civil Incest Suits: Preserving the Victim’s Remedy, 7 Harv. Women’s L.J. 189 (1984). *559In my opinion, plaintiffs’ early psychological problems, which mostly involved discomfort and confusion, did not provide sufficient early notice of their later serious psychological problems. I, therefore, believe that the trial court erred in finding, as a matter of law, that the statute of limitations had expired. Owens v. Brochner, 172 Colo. 525, 474 P.2d 603 (1970); Davis v. Bonebrake, supra.
In addition, there are other compelling factors which militate in favor of allowing a liberal discovery rule in incest cases. In sexual abuse/incest cases, there are numerous constraints on the victim which make it very difficult for her to seek legal or psychological help. If the victim admits involvement in these acts she runs the risk of societal stigmatization which in turn can limit her future social and economic opportunities. An incest victim is also constrained because of her reluctance to alienate her parents and the other members of the family. A continued relationship with even an abusive parent is often seen as being of critical importance to the incest victim. Furthermore, the parent or “surrogate” involved in these abuse cases, as here, often frightens the victim into secrecy by threats of harm to her and the family generally. Allen, Tort Remedies for Incestuous Abuse, 13 Golden Gate U.L.Rev. 609 (1983).
Until the past decade, therapists and others largely denied the existence of sexual child abuse. Salten, Statutes of Limitations in Civil Incest Suits: Preserving the Victim’s Remedy, 7 Harv. Women’s L.J. 189 (1984). Therefore, the complaining victim has also run a significant risk of having her claim of sexual abuse rejected. There now exists evidence, however, that a significant percentage of the population has experienced some form of child sexual abuse. National Legal Resource Center for Child Advocacy, Child Sexual Abuse: Legal Issues and Approaches (rev. ed. 1981). Furthermore, within the last decade, society has become more accepting of such claims.
Although there are several factors here which make this a less compelling ease to rule that the action did not accrue when plaintiffs reached majority, (i.e., late age of victims, defendant is not a live-in natural father, the education and independence of the victims, and the earlier psychological symptoms), I would, nonetheless, let the jury decide this issue.
For the reasons stated above, I would reverse the trial court’s determination concerning the applicability of the statute of limitations and, based on the present state of this record, would leave the issue to be resolved by the jury.