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Cichirillo v. Avondale Industries11/29/2005
suit could not serve to interrupt the Louisiana prescriptive period. The fact that Cichirillo could not bring suit in Mississippi for mesothelioma until that disease was diagnosed makes the instant case distinguishable from our holding in Taylor v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 579 So.2d 443 (La. 1991), the case relied upon by the court of appeal. Taylor's suit in Arkansas was not premature in that state, a fact which allowed interruption of prescription pursuant to the Louisiana law regarding solitary obligors.
CONCLUSION
Under Mississippi law, plaintiff's claim for damages arising out of mesothelioma did not become actionable until he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May of 1999. Because the 1992 Mississippi lawsuit for asbestosis damages was filed prior to the diagnosis of mesothelioma, at a time when Cichirillo could not have asserted a claim for mesothelioma in Mississippi, the Mississippi suit could not serve to interrupt prescription in Louisiana in the present suit.
Our analysis of Louisiana's statutory provisions regarding prescription leads us to the conclusion that plaintiff's suit against the Avondale defendants, filed more than three years subsequent to the diagnosis of mesothelioma, is prescribed. See LSA-C.C. art. 3492. We conclude, as a matter of law, that a prior suit in Mississippi could not interrupt prescription because the filing preceded the date plaintiff's claim became actionable. Because the Mississippi suit was premature as to the mesothelioma claim, it could not serve to interrupt prescription in Louisiana.
DECREE
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeal and affirm the judgment of the trial court granting the exception of prescription in favor of defendants, Peter Territo and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Inc., formerly known as Avondale Industries, Inc.
REVERSED.
VICTORY, J., concurs
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