Court Opinion

ID: 9668144
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:03:47.12428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:43.284901
License: Public Domain

Justice GRANT
The approach to the application of the discovery rule for the commencement of the running of the statute of limitations may provide more predictability and consistency, but I believe that an application of the discovery rule on a case-by-case basis is more likely to provide a just result. In effect, the statute of limitations is the legal application of the adage of equity that one who sleeps on one’s rights is not entitled to relief, but it is basically unfair to begin the following of the statute of limitations until an injury is known or apparent. Even if an injury is discoverable, an injured party should not be denied relief if that party has no notice that such an injury has occurred. Unless there is some type of notice, then there is no reason to seek to discover if a wrongful act has occurred. That a person knew or should have known should be the test applied to determine the commencement of the running of the statute of limitations on all actions, be it breach of contract or commission of a tort.
When a person knows or should have known of an invasion of a legally protected interest and an injury resulting therefrom, then that person is in a position to seek relief from the courts. A construction of the commencement of the running of the statute of limitations without providing the knew-or-should-have-known test is in reality a statute of repose. Our Legislature has passed statutes of repose barring causes of action regardless of the reasons for tolling the statute. These statutes of repose are for the purpose of ending the responsibility for particular kinds of activities at a predictable date. Characteristically, the statutes of repose are much longer than the regular statutes of limitations. See generally Restatement (Second) of ToRts § 899 (1979).
If we continue to make the establishing of the tolling of statutes of limitations more difficult, we are moving toward statutes of repose without appropriate lengthening of the time period. This is an unfair approach for those barred from bringing suits for legal injuries even if they have been brought in a timely manner after the discovery of the injury.
I realize that under old English law, there was no doctrine of tolling based on discovery. However, it has been adopted in Texas and other states because it is a *64fair rule and the requirement of due diligence is a fair test — but only after there is some notice for the injured party to use due diligence.
I write this concurrence because I fear that a trend to favor the commencement of the running of the statutes of limitations under all circumstances is a trend to unfairly deny justice even to those who have not been derelict or untimely in pursuing their causes of action as soon as discovered.