Each of us at one time has discovered a bruise or a cut that we were certain wasn’t there the day before. Most of the time, these minor injuries are of little concern.
That can change, however, when there is a serious injury that is a result of some exposure or event that occurred years earlier. Under these circumstances, does the passing of the statute of limitations period prevent an injured party from seeking a remedy?
In most personal injury lawsuits, the time-of-event rule is the starting point for calculating the limitations period. However, if a maritime worker sustains a latent injury that isn’t discovered until long after the incident that caused the injury, admiralty courts have applied the so-called “discovery rule” and will calculate the limitations period from the date of discovery.
Still, this equitable tolling of the statute of limitations period is a rare bird and the courts will scrutinize the factual circumstances. If the maritime worker should have reasonably been on notice of his injury, a discovery rule argument will likely not be successful.
For instance, a maritime worker who was exposed to chemicals and then suffered such severe headaches that he lost his seaman’s certification filed a lawsuit many years later for psychological injury. It was dismissed as being untimely. The court explained that in light of the several physical indicators that appeared immediately following the exposure, the maritime worker had a reasonable period of time to discover his injury and its cause.
In the context of property damage claims, a vessel owner may also be able to assert the discovery rule to defeat a statute of limitations defense. While the law is less developed in this area, the discovery rule has been successfully asserted to recover property damage in many non-maritime contexts. In this way, the vessel owner may be able to pursue a remedy for a design defect that just manifests itself.
When it comes to the discovery rule, you are definitely sailing in shallow waters.
Nevertheless, these are waters that, with an admiralty attorney as your pilot, you should be able to successfully navigate.
