Court Opinion

ID: 9844767
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:08:40.739519+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:42.619805
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Justice,
concurring specially:
Were it not for the fact that it does not have any effect on the outcome of this case, I would dissent from the Court’s view that a discovery rule should not be applied in legal malpractice similar to the discovery rule which this Court has applied in medical malpractice cases. See Billings v. Sisters of Mercy of Idaho, 86 Idaho 485, 389 P.2d 224 (1964); Renner v. Edwards, 93 Idaho 836, 475 P.2d 530 (1970). However, under the ruling of this Court in Stoner v. Carr, 97 Idaho 641, 550 P.2d 259 (1976), a decision in which I did not concur, if a discovery rule is applied in legal malpractice cases the statute of limitations in this case would still have run.
Stoner v. Carr, supra, which applied a discovery rule, held that the cause of action does not accrue until it is discovered. In the Stoner case the discovery occurred after the amendment of I.C. § 5-219(4) in 1971, so the Court applied the amendment, even though, as in this case, the alleged negligent act occurred prior to the amendment. The Court nevertheless applied the amended statute because, in the Court’s opinion, the cause of action did not accrue until discovered. The same is true in this case. Here, the discovery occurred after the 1971 amendment to I.C. § 5-219(4), and therefore as in Stoner v. Carr the 1971 amendment to the statute would be applicable to the facts of this case and the statute of limitations would have commenced running at the time of the occurrence in 1954. Thus, whether or not the discovery rule is *911applied to legal malpractice, under Stoner v. Carr the statute of limitations would have run in this case and the defendant was entitled to a dismissal.
While I do not agree with the Stoner v. Carr rationale, the effect of that decision on the facts of this case moots the question of whether or not a discovery rule in the case of legal malpractice should be applied. The result would be the same in either event. Therefore, I concur in the dismissal of the plaintiff’s complaint.