Court Opinion

ID: 9726626
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:00:47.930588+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:29.246284
License: Public Domain

ROBERT H. SCHUMACHER, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. At issue is how to apply the six-year statute of limitations provision of Minn.Stat. § 541.073, subd. 2 (2000), in conjunction with the disability suspension provision of Minn.Stat. § 541.15 (2000). In W.J.L. v. Bugge, 573 N.W.2d 677 (Minn.1998), the supreme court noted that under these provisions the limitations period begins to run one year after the victim reaches the age of majority and expires at 25 years of age. Id. at 682. In Bertram v. Poole, 597 N.W.2d 309 (Minn.App.1999), review denied (Minn. Sept. 28, 1999), we followed the supreme court and held that the proper limitation period extends to the age of 25. “Absent any other disability, the statute of limitations for sexual abuse in an infancy situation absolutely tolls when the victim reaches the age of 25.” Id. at 313-14. Here, when the action was commenced on June 8, 1999, D.M.S. was 19 years of age, well within the limitations period as articulated in Bertram. I would follow Bertram and reverse.
Regarding the continuing violations doctrine, the statute specifically provides that a plaintiff need not establish which act in a continuous series of sexual abuse acts by the defendant caused the injury. Minn. Stat. § 541.073, subd. 2(b). The district court ruled that there was no evidence that PATH maintained a “special relationship” towards D.M.S. after the February 22, 1993 removal from the PATH home. See, e.g., Donaldson v. Young Women’s Christian Ass’n of Duluth, 539 N.W.2d 789, 792 (Minn.1995) (“special relationship” imposing duty is found where plaintiff is particularly vulnerable and dependent on defendant and defendant holds considerable power over plaintiffs welfare). But D.M.S.’s proffered evidence shows continuous sexual abuse in the PATH home into 1994. Accordingly, the district court erred by fixing the February 22, 1993 removal date as the date of abuse for the statute of limitations period. I would reverse. PATH had a general duty to prevent future abuse to D.M.S. at the PATH home.