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Pennwalt Corp. v. Nasios12/21/1988
In this case we are asked to determine when an action accrues in a medical products liability case. Pursuant to the Uniform Certification of Questions of Law Act, Maryland Code (1984), §§ 12-601 to 12-609 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland certified the following question of state law for our consideration.
Whether under the discovery rule, knowledge of the manufacturer's wrongdoing or of product defect is required, in addition to knowledge of possible causation, to trigger the statute of limitations in a medical products liability action.
We set forth the following facts to place the question presented in proper focus. On June 17, 1980, Evangelia Nasios was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital to deliver her second child. Prior to delivery, Nasios received an epidural injection of the anesthetic Nesacaine, a drug supplied by Pennwalt Corporation (Pennwalt). Within hours after childbirth it became apparent that Nasios was partially paralyzed. In an effort to remedy the paralysis, her doctors performed an emergency laminectomy the following day to correct an epidural hematoma. However, the surgery did not improve Nasios's condition. Five days later, a doctor at the hospital explained to Nasios that her prognosis was not bright and that the epidural anesthesia may have been the cause of her paralysis. Nasios hired an attorney shortly thereafter and began investigating her possible claims. On July 17, 1985, over five years after her injury, and after
changing attorneys several times, Nasios filed a breach of warranty, negligence, and strict liability suit against Pennwalt. Pennwalt asserted that Nasios's claim was barred by limitations and moved for summary judgment.
Judge Ramsay, sitting for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, summed up the crucial facts and his conclusions in the Certification Order. Judge Ramsay made clear that Nasios knew that Nesacaine was a possible cause of her paralysis more than three years before filing suit. Additionally, Nasios thoroughly investigated a possible claim against Pennwalt. Nevertheless, Judge Ramsay indicated that he could not conclude as a matter of law that Nasios had knowledge of the alleged manufacturer wrongdoing or product defect more than three years before filing suit. From the foregoing, Judge Ramsay concluded that if knowledge of possible causation is all that is required to trigger the running of the statute of limitations, then summary judgment should be granted in favor of the defendants. On the other hand, if the plaintiff must have knowledge of manufacturer wrongdoing or product defect before the statute of limitations begins to run, he suggested that summary judgment would be inappropriate. Judge Ramsay found that there was insufficient Maryland law on this point and therefore certified to us the question of whether knowledge of a manufacturer's wrongdoing or product defect is necessary to begin the running of the limitations period.
Pennwalt would have us answer the certified question with an unequivocal "no." It argues that a cause of action accrues when a potential plaintiff discovers his injury and there is no requirement that he need know of any manufacturer wrongdoing or product defect. Nasios would have us answer the certified question with a qualified "no." Nasios argues that the statute of limitations does not begin to run on a potential plaintiff until the injury, possible cause of the injury, and knowledge of probable wrongdoing are discovered or should have been discovered through reasonably diligent investigation. Nasios qualifies her "no" answer to
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