Nixon v. State9/30/2005
e law, including court decisions interpreting similar language in related and unrelated statutes, is a useful aid in interpreting a statute, I now examine whether these resources reveal a meaning for the word "accruing," as used by the legislature in 1965.
2. Contemporaneous Context of Retroactivity Provision
The majority states, "Precedent clearly holds a claim does not 'accrue' until the plaintiff 'discovers the injury or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered it.'" (Citation omitted). While this statement may be true in 2005, in 1965 precedent clearly held that a claim accrued at the time of injury. See, e.g., Eppling v. Seuntjens, 117 N.W.2d 820, 825 (Iowa 1962); Beerman v. Beerman, 225 Iowa 48, 51-52, 279 N.W. 449, 451-52 (1938); Ogg v. Robb, 181 Iowa 145, 156, 162 N.W. 217, 221 (1917); Gustin v. County of Jefferson, 15 Iowa 158, 160 (1863). Moreover, prior to 1965, this court had expressly and consistently stated that "ignorance of the existence of a cause of action at law does not prevent the statute from running unless there has been an intentional fraudulent concealment." McGrath, 224 Iowa at 223, 275 N.W. at 471; accord Lougee v. Reed, 133 Iowa 48, 50-51, 110 N.W. 165, 166 (1907); see Chrischilles v. Griswold, 260 Iowa 453, 461, 150 N.W.2d 94, 100 (1967) (noting rule up to that point in time--1967--was that "ignorance of a right does not prevent the running of the statute of limitations"), superseded by statute as stated in Langner v. Simpson, 533 N.W.2d 511, 576 (Iowa 1995).
Prior to 1965, this court had never applied the discovery rule outside the legislatively authorized area of equitable fraud, mistake, and trespass, see Iowa Code § 614.4 (1962), and the statutory discovery rule had been strictly limited to the types of claims expressly listed in the statute. See, e.g., Cole v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 242 Iowa 416, 426, 46 N.W.2d 811, 817 (1951). It was not until this court's 1967 decision in Chrischilles that the discovery rule was applied outside statutory parameters. Clearly, this case, which changed the law and which was decided after legislative enactment of the retroactivity or sunrise provision, is not authoritative on the issue of the legislature's intent two years earlier. See Gannon v. Chicago , Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pac. Ry., 175 N.E.2d 785, 792 (Ill. 1961) (refusing to ascribe intent to legislature that was contrary to legal principles followed at time statute was enacted).
This court's refusal to apply the discovery rule outside section 614.4 prior to 1967 is even more significant when one examines the statutes of limitation that were being interpreted by our decisions. From its initial adoption, the general statute of limitations found at Iowa Code section 614.1 has focused on the accrual of the cause of action: "Actions may be brought within the times herein limited, respectively after their causes accrue, and not afterwards, except when otherwise specially declared . . . ." Iowa Code § 614.1 (emphasis added). Prior to our 1967 Chrischilles decision, this court had always interpreted the word "accrue," as used in the limitations statute, to refer to the time of injury, regardless of when the injury or claim was discovered by the injured party. See, e.g., Cole, 242 Iowa at 426, 46 N.W.2d at 817; McGrath, 224 Iowa at 223, 275 N.W. at 470-71; Lougee, 133 Iowa at 50-51, 110 N.W. at 166.
When one focuses on the proper timeframe, it is readily discernible that the word "accruing" had a well-defined meaning in 1965: it meant when the injury occurred. Consequently, if we remain true to our longstanding principles of statutory interpretation, we must conclude that when the legislature stated that on
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