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Christensen v. Philip Morris USA Inc.6/8/2005
Hollander, Sharer, Moylan, Jr., Charles E. (Retired, specially assigned) JJ.
This appeal involves the interplay of the statute of limitations, the discovery rule, and the doctrine of equitable tolling, and the competing policies that support each one. Russell E. Christensen ("Christensen" or the "Decedent"), was diagnosed with lung cancer in mid 1998. Although Christensen had been a cigarette smoker for thirty years, he had ceased smoking more than twenty years before he was diagnosed with lung cancer, from which he died on January 17, 2001, at the age of seventy-three.
On August 13, 2001, Nona Christensen, appellant, the Decedent's widow, individually and as Christensen's personal representative, brought a survival and wrongful death action against a host of tobacco manufacturers and related entities. They include appellees Philip Morris USA Inc. ("Philip Morris"); Lorillard Tobacco Co.; and Liggett Group, Inc. ("Liggett"), manufacturers of cigarette products, and appellees Giant Food, LLC ("Giant"); Crown Service, Inc.; George J. Falter Co., Inc.; and A & A Tobacco Company, Inc., entities involved in the sale and distribution of cigarettes. Ms. Christensen sought compensatory and punitive damages based on strict liability (failure to warn), fraudulent misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, loss of consortium, and conspiracy. The suit was amended on September 25, 2002, to add as plaintiffs the Decedent's two adult children: appellants Eric Lowell Christensen (born August 14, 1963) and Lisa Marie Christensen Kelly (born December 10, 1960).
With one exception, all of the appellees in this case had previously been sued in a class action brought in Maryland by smokers, former smokers, and their families. Although Christensen was not a named party in the class action, he was a potential class member. The case sub judice was filed several months after the class action was decertified by the Court of Appeals in Philip Morris Inc. v. Angeletti, 358 Md. 689 (2000).
Appellees moved for summary judgment in this case, alleging that suit was barred by limitations because the Decedent knew in the Spring of 1998 that he had lung cancer, and thus was on inquiry notice at that time. In response, appellants claimed, inter alia, that Christensen's claim did not accrue until September 1998, when he learned that his cancer was caused by cigarette smoking. Moreover, they suggested that, because Christiansen was an ex-smoker for more than two decades, he lacked sufficient knowledge at the time of diagnosis to link his lung cancer to smoking.
The circuit court granted appellees' motion. Among other things, it concluded that the claims accrued more than three years before suit was filed, and that limitations was not tolled during the pendency of the unsuccessful class action suit.
On appeal, appellants present the following three questions:
I. Did the trial court err in refusing to consider whether the statute of limitations was tolled during the pendency of the Maryland class action tobacco case?
II. Did the trial court err in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants as to Appellant's survival action on the ground that the action was barred by limitations?
III. Did the trial court err in declaring that Appellant's wrongful death claims were barred by the statute of limitations?
For the reasons set forth below, we shall reverse and remand.
FACTUAL SUMMARY
Christensen was born in 1927 and was well educated. He worked for a period of time as a teacher and then as a school principal. In 1970, he obtained his law degree.
In May 1996, the case of
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Maryland Personal Injury Attorneys
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