Court Opinion

ID: 9630879
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:23:20.37861+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:45.562869
License: Public Domain

MOORE, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the result in this case. I write separately because I disagree with two aspects of the majority opinion. First, the majority holds that the six-year statute of limitations for contracts, rather than the two-year statute for torts, applies to this case of professional malpractice. [Op. at 603-604] The majority relies upon Lee Houston & Assocs. v. Racine, 806 P.2d 848, 855 (Aaska 1991), which held that the six-year statute applies to professional malpractice actions claiming economic loss. I joined Justice Burke’s dissent in Lee Houston, stating that the two-year statute should be applied because the defendant breached a general fiduciary duty to the client, that such duties are analogous to a general tortfeasor’s duty of reasonable care, and that therefore the two-year statute of limitations for torts was more appropriate. Id. at 856-57 (Burke, J., dissenting); see also Scott L. Ates, The Statute of Limitations for Professional Malpractice in Alaska after Lee Houston & Associates, Ltd. v. Racine, 9 Alaska L.Rev. 41, 52-53 (1992) (agreeing that the tort statute of limitations is more appropriate in such circumstances).
In this case, the Moores sued their lawyer, Breck, for breach of contract and negligence for failing to warn of restrictions in the plat for the property purchased by the Moores. This cause of action is based more in tort— for negligence — than in contract law. Therefore, for the same reasoning outlined in the Lee Houston dissent and in Ates, supra, I would apply the two-year statute of limitations to this case.
My other objection to the majority opinion is its citation to Bauman v. Day, 892 P.2d 817 (Alaska 1995), in which I also dissent. I reaffirm my opposition to the overly broad discovery rule for contracts adopted in Bau-man.
Nevertheless, I concur in the result reached today. As the majority correctly states, “[w]e have consistently held that the discovery rule applies to professional malpractice.” [Op. at 603] The fact of negligent title research and the resulting harm are difficult for a lay person to discover. Furthermore, as previously discussed, this action *610sounds more in tort than in contract.1 I agree with the majority’s application of the discovery rule to this case. The Moores did not actually discover Breck’s failure to find the plat restrictions until 1989. Therefore, whether the two-year or six-year statute is applied, their suit against Breck was not time-barred.

. I note that my positions regarding the proper statute of limitations, discovery rule, and measurement of damages are consistent — I would apply the appropriate rule for torts to this case. In contrast, the majority finds that the tort measure of damages applies, yet maintains that the contract statute of limitations applies. The tortfcontract distinction would not affect the majority’s discovery rule application, in light of Bauman.