Court Opinion

ID: 9738135
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:43:23.809034+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:03.916193
License: Public Domain

*125O’Connor, J.
(dissenting in part). I agree with the court’s answer to the first certified question. General Laws c. 229, § 2, is clear. Claims for wrongful death must be brought within three years after the death occurs.
The second certified question is as follows: “May a discovery rule be applied in an action for conscious pain and suffering brought under [G. L. c. 229, § 6], where, as a consequence of plaintiffs’ good faith ignorance of the existence of grounds for a complaint, the action was commenced more than three years after the date of the decedent’s death, and more than two years after the executor of the decedent’s estate posted his bond?” I do not agree that the correct answer to that question is “no.” I would answer that, whether a discovery rule applies to the conscious pain and suffering claim depends, not on the state of mind of either plaintiff,1 but on whether, regardless of the date of the decedent’s death, the decedent’s disease and its cause were inherently unknowable until three years before this action was commenced.
In several cases, this court and the Appeals Court have recognized the “principle that a plaintiff should be put on notice before his or her claim is barred by the passage of time. Thus, the discovery rule has been applied to causes of action based on ‘inherently unknowable’ wrongs.” Olsen v. Bell Tel. Laboratories, Inc., 388 Mass. 171, 175 (1983), quoting Friedman v. Jablonski, 371 Mass. 482, 485 (1976). Under the discovery rule, “certain causes of action based on inherently unknowable wrongs do not accrue until the plaintiff learns, or reasonably should have learned, that he has been harmed by the defendant’s conduct.” White v. Peabody Constr. Co., 386 Mass. 121, 129 (1982). Gore v. Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 645 , 647 (1984). Zampell v. Consolidated Freightways Corp., 15 Mass. App. Ct. 954 (1983).
The purpose of the court-made discovery rule is to implement the legislative intent. The mie corrects the unfairness that would *126result from the limitation period beginning to run against an injured party before his cause of action is knowable. Thus, if John I. Pobieglo, the deceased, had survived to the present, he would have been entitled to bring an action to recover for his personal injuries caused by the defendants’ negligence any time after the injuries were incurred, but he would not have been required to bring the action until three years after the wrong became knowable. If the deceased himself had brought this action on December 31,1984, the date on which the action was in fact brought by the personal representative, the action would have been timely had the deceased’s disease and its cause been inherently unknowable until three years before that date. If the disease and its cause were knowable before December 31, 1981, the action would have been time-barred.
This action was brought, not by the deceased, but by the executor of his estate. As the court notes, ante at 118, “‘[although G. L. c. 229, § 6 . . . permits the joinder of separate counts for death and for conscious suffering in a single action, they are separate causes of action.’ Gaudette v. Webb, 362 Mass. 60, 62 (1972).” A cause of action for conscious suffering, like any other cause of action for personal injuries, is subject to the three-year limitation of actions provisions of G. L. c. 260, § 2A. Id. It survives the death of the injured party, G. L. c. 228, § 1 (2) (a), and vests in the personal representative. Id. at 63.
General Laws c. 260, § 10, provides: “If a person entitled to bring . . . any action before mentioned [a personal injury tort action, as here; see § 2A] dies before the expiration of the time hereinbefore limited [before the expiration of three years after the cause of action accrues; see § 2A], or within thirty days after the expiration of said time, and the cause of action by law survives [a cause of action for personal injuries survives; see G. L. c. 228, § 1 (2) (a)], the action may be commenced by the executor or administrator at any time within the period within which the deceased might have brought the action or within two years after giving his bond for the discharge of his trust . . . .”
*127It is clear that, with respect to surviving causes of action, the Legislature’s objective in enacting G. L. c. 260, § 10, was to give the estate of the deceased at least as much time for bringing an action as the deceased would have had if he had survived. Thus, if a person with a surviving cause of action dies while an action brought by him would still be timely, or within thirty days thereafter, his personal representative “inherits” the time denied to the deceased by reason of his death. Also, if the time for bringing an action has not expired more than thirty days before the death of the deceased, the personal representative has two years from the posting of his bond within which to commence the action. Whether G. L. c. 260, § 10, provides time to the personal representative to bring an action, and if so, how much time, depends on whether there was time remaining to the deceased thirty days before his death. In turn, whether there was time remaining to the deceased thirty days before his death requires application of the discovery rule as discussed above.
Examples might be helpful. If a person dies six months after his disease and its cause have become knowable, his personal representative would have either two years and six months from the date of the death to bring an action (because the deceased would have had that time) or he would have two years from the date of posting his bond, whichever computation results in the longer period. If a person dies two years after the wrong becomes knowable, the personal representative would “inherit” only one year from the date of death, but he nevertheless would have two years from the posting of his bond. If a person dies before the disease and its cause are knowable, the personal representative’s allowable time begins to run when the disease and its cause become knowable because that is the time that would have been available to the deceased if he had survived. In any event, given those circumstances, the personal representative would have at least two years from the posting of his bond.
General Laws c. 260, § 10, addresses the situation where “a person entitled to bring . . . any action” dies before the period of limitation has expired. I would reject the argument *128that, if a person dies before his disease and its cause are knowable, he was not “entitled” to bring an action before he died and therefore c. 260, § 10, is inapplicable. Such a construction frustrates the overriding purpose of the statute, which is to put the estate of the deceased as nearly as possible in the position the deceased would have been in if he had lived. There is no inconsistency in saying that a person who has been injured by the fault of another is entitled to bring an action for his injury although he is unaware of it, but he is not required to bring the action until a prescribed time after the wrong becomes knowable.
Certified question number 2 inquires about the applicability of the discovery rule “where ... the action was commenced more than three years after the date of the decedent’s death, and more than two years after the executor of the decedent’s estate posted his bond.” Just as the period for commencing a wrongful death action begins with the death, because the Legislature has so provided, the provision of two years from the posting of the executor’s bond, as required by G. L. c. 260, § 10, can only begin with the posting of the bond. I would answer, however, that if the wrong of which the plaintiffs complain was inherently unknowable at least until December 31, 1981, three years before the action was brought, the action was timely.
Of course, applying the discovery rule to a claim for conscious suffering arising out of a wrong that is inherently unknowable until after the injured person’s death will usually result in the action to recover for such injury being viable for a longer time (perhaps much longer) than is a claim for that person’s wrongful death. If that lack of symmetry is thought by the Legislature to be undesirable, its correction is for that body. If the Legislature chooses to act, it may enact legislation providing that claims for conscious suffering must be brought within three years after the injured person’s death. But, it is also open to the Legislature, if it chooses to act, to enact legislation providing that a wrongful death action must be brought within three years after the wrong has become inherently knowable, thus synchronizing claims for wrongful death *129with claims for conscious suffering, which is the result Justice Liacos contends is correct on the basis of the present statute. It is my view that the court should not create its own “statute” of limitations by arbitrarily announcing that a cause of action for conscious suffering arises no later than the injured person’s death even though, at that time, the cause of action is not inherently knowable and would not have accrued if the injured person had survived.

 The plaintiffs are John L. Pobieglo, executor of the estate of his father, John I. Pobieglo, and administrator of the estate of his mother, Doris Pobieglo, and Kathy Pobieglo, daughter of John I. Pobieglo and Doris Pobieglo.