Court Opinion

ID: 9775780
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:08:55.812834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:30.950368
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON PETITION TO REHEAR
GODDARD, Judge.
Counsel for the Defendants, Ashland Chemical, et al., have filed a courteous petition to rehear, contending that we misapprehended and overlooked certain legal issues and prior law concerning the discovery rule and Rule 56 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure for summary judgment. We take this opportunity to clarify the earlier opinion.
As pointed out in the opinion, the discovery rule provides that the statute begins running “when the injury occurs or is discovered, or when in the exercise of reasonable care and diligence, it should have been discovered.” (Emphasis added.) McCroskey v. Bryant Air Conditioning Company, 524 S.W.2d 487 (Tenn.1975). This rule applies to the wrongful death statute, T.C.A. 28-3-104.1
Rule 56.03 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment is appropriate if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” As this Court recently stated “[a] party who moves for summary judgment has the burden of showing that no genuine issue of a material fact exists, and the Court in ruling on the motion must view the record in the light most favorable to the opponent of the motion.” Keystone Insurance Company v. Griffith, 659 S.W.2d 364 (Tenn.App.1983).
The Defendants presented no affidavits or testimony to support their motion for summary judgment, but defended by stating that the action was barred by the one-year statute of limitations of T.C.A. 28-3-104. In the case at bar the Plaintiff placed her reasonable diligence in discovering the alleged cause of her husband’s death at issue in her affidavit. The Defendants did not meet their burden of showing no genuine issue of material fact existed as to the Plaintiffs reasonable diligence and, therefore, their motion for summary judgment fails.
We also point out that this finding has no bearing on the burden of proof at trial, which in this case would require the Plaintiff to prove that she acted with reasonable diligence. Our holding is only in regard to the movant’s burden on a motion for summary judgment.
The petition to rehear is accordingly overruled at the cost of the Defendants.
SANDERS and FRANKS, JJ., concur.

. T.C.A. 28-3-104 provides Tennessee's statute of limitations for personal tort actions, including those for wrongful death.