Court Opinion

ID: 9687705
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:42:54.235598+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:30.258817
License: Public Domain

ANDREASEN, Justice
(specially concurring).
I concur in the majority opinion. I write specially to express some additional views on the case.
*274I agree the discovery rule may be applicable under chapter 25A. The court should not have granted summary judgment to the State.
When determining if the discovery rule should be applied, the court should balance the unfairness of requiring a party to defend a delayed legal action against the unfairness of denying a claim before the claimant’s injury is discovered or discoverable. Application of the discovery rule should be determined by the court on a case-by-case basis.
I believe the district court should normally conduct a pretrial hearing to determine if the statute of limitations should bar the plaintiff’s claims. Because the discovery rule is a judicially created doctrine based on equitable considerations, the hearing should be in equity, and equitable principles should apply even though the action is legal.
The trial court must determine whether the plaintiff is equitably entitled to the benefit of the discovery rule. In each case where the plaintiff claims the benefit of the discovery rule the court should identify, evaluate, and weigh the equitable claims made by both parties. The court should consider all relevant facts and circumstances. The factors to be considered may include but are not limited to: the nature of the alleged injury, the availability of witnesses and written evidence, the length of time that has elapsed since the alleged wrongdoing, whether the delay has been deliberate or intentional, whether the delay was peculiarly or unusually prejudicial to the defendant, and whether the defendant concealed or misrepresented the nature or cause of the alleged injury. Such a procedure has been applied in New Jersey since 1973. See Lopez v. Swyer, 62 N.J. 267, 300 A.2d 563 (1973).