Court Opinion

ID: 9731391
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:44:17.181693+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:17.600871
License: Public Domain

WIEAND, Judge:
In this action to recover damages for lung cancer allegedly caused by occupational exposure to asbestos products, the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the defendant manufacturers because the action was barred by the two year statute of limitations enacted by the legislature at 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2). After careful review, we affirm.
Charles A. Love was employed from 1942 to 1982 by National Valve & Manufacturing Company as a laborer, welder, sandblaster and shotblaster. Over the years of his employment, Love was exposed to various products containing asbestos. Early in 1982, the plant physician, having examined Love, told him he had a “dirty lung” and recommended that *157he surrender his position as a shotblaster. Love did not immediately ask the physician about the cause of his lung condition, but he conceded in subsequent depositions that he had believed it to be work related.1 Love returned to his former job as a laborer until he retired in July, 1982. He then consulted his family physician, who referred him to Dr. John Mitchell. On September 1, 1982, Dr. Mitchell made a diagnosis of lung cancer, and surgery was performed shortly thereafter. At this time, Love suspected that the cancer was related to his occupational exposure to asbestos.
Following surgery, Love consulted a lawyer, who arranged for him to be examined by Dr. Murray Sachs in January, 1983. On March 9, 1983, Dr. Sachs submitted a written report in which he concluded that there was a causal connection between the lung cancer and Love’s prior exposure to asbestos. On March 1, 1985, Love and his wife commenced an action for damages against numerous manufacturers of asbestos products allegedly used during the course of his employment. Love died on July 9, 1987, after which the executors of his estate were substituted as party plaintiffs. On September 11, 1991, the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of Globe Electric Company, Inc., The Gage Company, and Colonial Supply Company, the defendants then remaining in the action.
This Court has recently reviewed the applicable law in Ingenito v. A C & S, Inc., et al., 430 Pa.Super. 129, 633 A.2d 1172 (1993) (J. E02002/93; filed Nov./l/1993). There, we held that an action by the personal representatives of a decedent was barred because the decedent had failed to file an action within two years after a diagnosis of lung cancer and where the cause of the cancer had been immediately knowable to him in the exercise of reasonable diligence. “Reasonable diligence,” we said, is an objective or external standard which is the same for all individuals. Id. at 131, 633 A.2d at 1174. *158See: Burnside v. Abbott Laboratories, 351 Pa.Super. 264, 292, 505 A.2d 973, 988 (1985), quoting Petri v. Smith, 307 Pa.Super. 261, 271, 453 A.2d 342, 347 (1982). “ Tf a party has the means of discovery within his power but neglects to use them, his claim will still be barred.’ ” Ingenito v. A C & S, Inc., et al., supra 430 Pa.Super. at 131, 633 A.2d at 1174, quoting Burnside v. Abbott Laboratories, supra 351 Pa. at 292, 505 A.2d at 988.
Love knew that he had a “dirty lung” in early 1982 and suspected that it was work related. On September 1,1982, his physician told him he had lung cancer. Love suspected that it was related to his occupational exposure to asbestos. Under these circumstances, even if the physicians did not inform Love of the cause of his lung condition, it was unreasonable as a matter of law for Love not to make inquiry. The diagnosis had been made and Love had suspected the cause. The causal connection between lung cancer and occupational exposure to asbestos was neither obscure nor unascertainable. For Love to fail to make inquiry of his physicians regarding the cause of his lung cancer under the circumstances was unreasonable as a matter of law.
After surgery in September, 1982, Love also believed he might have a cause of action for his disease, for he consulted a lawyer. The lawyer arranged for an examination by another physician in January, 1983. Although we do not know what was told the patient during this examination, it is readily apparent that the existence of a cause of action could have been ascertained by simple inquiry. By this time, Love had been diagnosed with cancer, had been operated upon for cancer, had suspected that his disease was attributable to occupational exposure to asbestos, had consulted a lawyer about a legal remedy and had been sent for yet another medical examination. If, as appellants allege, Love did not have actual knowledge of the causal connection between his lung cancer and his exposure to asbestos, it is clear that, as a matter of law, he failed “to use all reasonable diligence to be properly informed of the facts and circumstances upon which a potential right of recovery [was] based and to institute suit within the prescribed statutory period.” Pocono Internation*159al Raceway, Inc. v. Pocono Produce, Inc., 503 Pa. 80, 84, 468 A.2d 468, 471 (1983).
Judgment affirmed.
FORD ELLIOTT, J., files a Dissenting Opinion in which DEL SOLE and KELLY, JJ., join.

. Love also had a history of smoking. Between 1942 and 1950, he smoked approximately one and one-half packs of cigarettes per day; and from 1950 until the taking of his depositions on October 28, 1985, he smoked a pipe daily.