Court Opinion

ID: 9776322
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:30:40.723376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:37.219481
License: Public Domain

HOLSTEIN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The majority correctly states that the standard for the commencement of the running of a statute of limitations is when the damages are reasonably capable of ascertainment; Chemical Workers Basic Union v. Arnold Savings Bank, 411 S.W.2d 159 (Mo. banc 1966). As such, a petition may not be dismissed unless it clearly establishes “on its face and without exception” that it is barred. Int’l Plastics Dev., Inc. v. Monsanto Co., 433 S.W.2d 291, 294 (Mo. banc 1968). While it is true that many states follow a “reasonable person” interpretation which makes whether damages are ascertainable a jury question, Missouri follows an objective test which is decided as a matter of law by the trial judge. Id.; see Anderson v. Griffin, Dysart, Taylor, Penner & Lay, P.C., 684 S.W.2d 858, 860-61 (Mo.App.1984). A cause of action accrues, for limitations purposes, when a party can first ascertain the fact that she has been damaged, even though she cannot yet discover the precise amount of her damages. Lehnig v. Bornhop, 859 S.W.2d 271, 273-74 (Mo.App.1993).
In this case the last act of sexual abuse is alleged to have occurred when the plaintiff was 14 years of age. There is no claim that she was mentally incompetent. Under the objective ascertainment standard, the question becomes whether a reasonable 14-year-old female subjected to a sexual assault could *60have discovered or known that she has been damaged at the time of the attack. This objective standard does not ask whether a 14-year-old female, who later suffers from dissociative amnesia, could recall the fact that she has been assaulted, upon reaching her 21st birthday. I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion that “[t]he petition does not state the date [plaintiff] ‘sustained and suffered’ these injuries and damages” nor its conclusion that “it is ambiguous as to when [the plaintiff] objectively could have discovered or made known the fact of damage.” Here, as a matter of law, a reasonable 14-year-old competent female should be held to know that she has been damaged at the time she is sexually assaulted, even though she does not know the precise extent of her damages. By contrast, a younger child or one who is incompetent might not know that she has been damaged.
Applying this objective standard, it does not matter that this particular plaintiff may have subjectively suffered from dissociative amnesia concerning the event in question. From the facts of the plaintiffs petition and applying the objective ascertainment standard, her cause of action is barred by the applicable statute of limitations. For this reason, I would affirm the decision of the trial court.