Court Opinion

ID: 9565362
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:19:35.130031+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:35.131556
License: Public Domain

Justice Exum
concurring.
I concur in the opinion of the majority and, except as noted, in the concurring opinion of Justice Branch.
General Statute 1-15(b) provides:
“Except where otherwise provided by statute, a cause of action, other than one for wrongful death, having as an essential element bodily injury to the person or a defect in or damage to property which originated under circumstances making the injury, defect or damage not readily apparent to the claimant at the time of its origin, is deemed to have accrued at the time the injury was discovered by the claimant, or ought reasonably to have been discovered by him, whichever event first occurs; provided that in such *195cases the period shall not exceed 10 years from the last act of the defendant giving rise to the claim for relief.” (Emphasis added.)
It is clear to me that the words “bodily injury to the person or a defect in or damage to property” refer to bodily injury to the claimant or a defect in or damage to property belonging to the claimant which injury, defect or damage is latent, or, in the words of the statute “not readily apparent to the claimant.” It is also clear that the word “injury” in the seventh line of the statute as quoted above includes personal injury, property damage, and defects in property upon which a claim for relief might be based. The statute amends our traditional rule by which the claim for relief accrued at the time the claimant suffered some injury, however latent, technical or inconsequential, because of a trespass to his person or a defect in or damage to his own property. Under the statute his claim accrues from the time the personal injury, defect in or damage to property, if latent, was actually discovered or should reasonably have been discovered “by the claimant.” (How could a claimant be expected ever to discover a latent defect in the property of another before he is hurt by it?) The statute then provides that in this kind of case the claimant shall have no more than 10 years from the last act of the defendant giving rise to his claim to make discovery and to bring suit.
It is not necessary to condemn or overrule this Court’s holding in Causey v. R. R., 166 N.C. 5, 81 S.E. 917 (1914) and I am not willing to say now that this case was wrongly decided.
 The essential point made well by the majority opinion and by Justice Branch in his concurring opinion is that here there is no latent injury. Therefore General Statute 1-15 (b) simply has no application to these facts. In Pinkston v. Hamilton Company, No. 120, Fall Term 1976, argued in this Court on November 11, 1976, involving facts which, materially, are the same as in the instant case, both counsel for the plaintiff and the defendant in oral argument agreed that General Statute 1-15 (b) did not apply.
The error in the reasoning of the dissenters becomes apparent, it seems to me, when they base their view on an assumed defect in the crane which they say was “not readily apparent to the claimant.” The only references in the record to the defect *196in the crane are allegations in the complaint that the crane was negligently manufactured and designed. Nowhere is the precise nature of the defect described. It may be that the defect is perfectly obvious to any knowledgeable observer. Furthermore when, if ever, should the decedent, who never owned the crane or, as far as we know, had it in his possession, have reasonably discovered the defect? I am at a loss to understand how the dissenters would dismiss this claim on their assumption, unsupported by anything in the record, that the defect in the crane was latent, hidden, or “not readily apparent to the claimant.”
Brown v. Casualty Co., 285 N.C. 313, 204 S.E. 2d 829 (1974), relied on by the Chief Justice in her dissent stands ultimately for the proposition that if a claim for wrongful death is brought more than two years from the date of death it is barred by General Statute 1-53(4) whether the defendant is the hit and run motorist or the deceased’s liability insurance carrier. The Chief Justice’s statement that General Statute 1-15 (b) when “[r]ead in context . . . also refers, by necessary implication, to bodily injury caused by a defect in property not apparent at the time of its origin” is correct only if the “property” referred to is that of the claimant himself. If the “property” referred to belongs to someone other than the claimant then this statement seems to amend rather than construe the statute.
Neither do I understand the import of the Chief Justice’s statement that under the majority’s interpretation General Statute 1-15 (b) “will extend the time for bringing an action in a situation similar to that in Jewell v. Price, 264 N.C. 459, 142 S.E. 2d 1 (1965), where a plaintiff sued to recover damages for the destruction of his home by a fire caused by a defective furnace, but it will bar the same plaintiff if he sues to recover for personal injuries sustained in the same blaze.” In such a case, the statute, as interpreted by the majority, would operate as follows: When a defective furnace is installed in a home, the owner has an immediate claim for relief grounded on this defect. If the defect is not readily apparent to the owner when the furnace is installed, General Statute 1-15 (b) provides that the owner’s claim, instead of accruing at the time of installation, accrues when the defect is discovered or ought reasonably to have been discovered by him. In no event may the owner have longer than 10 years from the defendant’s last act causing the defect in the furnace to make discovery and to *197bring suit. If the defective furnace caused the home to be burned and the owner to be injured in the fire, the owner’s claims for property damage and personal injury would both be subject to a statute of limitations defense if the owner delayed filing suit more than three years from the date of the fire or more than 10 years from the last act of the defendant causing the defect in the furnace. The distinction between this situation and the case now before us is that there was an extant claim which could have been brought immediately after the defective furnace was purchased. Raftery on the other hand had no claim whatever until he was hurt and killed by the crane.