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Williams v. Stewart3/22/2005
{1} This is an appeal from an order granting summary judgment and dismissing a class action lawsuit. The issues primarily concern the application of the discovery rule. The essential elements of fraud are also at issue. Under the circumstances presented, we conclude that publicity concerning a program to use body parts removed in autopsies did not give rise to a duty to inquire as a matter of law and that the district court therefore erred in determining that the statute of limitations bars the claims asserted. Additionally, we hold that fraud was not adequately pleaded because emotional distress damages are not recoverable as part of the fraud claim. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
Background
{2} This lawsuit arises out of a program that the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) conducted from 1959 through the early 1980s. LANL arranged with the Los Alamos Medical Center (LAMC) and several of its pathologists to have organs, tissues, and other body parts removed in the course of autopsies performed at LAMC and other area hospitals. The body parts were then delivered to LANL so that their plutonium content could be studied. In total, body parts from 407 individuals (the decedents) were collected as part of this program.
{3} It appears that little or no effort was made to obtain the informed consent either of the decedents before their deaths or their families. Further, neither the existence of the program nor its purposes were publicly disclosed until 1993, when a reporter obtained documents using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). See generally 5 U.S.C. ยง 552 (2002).
{4} Plaintiffs filed this class action lawsuit on October 15, 1996, roughly three years after the FOIA disclosure. Initially, the class included the next of kin and/or the immediate family members of all the decedents who were involved in the program.The Regents of the University of California, as operator of LANL, and Lutheran Hospitals & Homes Society of America, Inc., as operator of LAMC, were among the original defendants. The first complaint sought damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, conversion, fraud, negligence, and civil rights violations. After discovery had been conducted and additional information had been gathered about the program, Plaintiffs obtained leave to amend their complaint to join Dr. Michael W. Stewart as an additional defendant and to add claims for mistreatment of a corpse, breach of contract, civil conspiracy, and aiding and abetting.
{5} The defendants filed a number of motions to dismiss and for summary judgment.The district court dismissed many of the claims, including the claim for fraud. However, the claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, mistreatment of a corpse, civil conspiracy, and aiding and abetting remained.
{6} Following protracted negotiations, Plaintiffs obtained settlements with all defendants except Dr. Stewart.The parties agree that a de facto sub-class was thereby created consisting of only those members of the original class who were related to the decedents autopsied during Dr. Stewart's tenure at LAMC (Plaintiffs).
{7} As the only remaining party-defendant, Dr. Stewart moved the district court to reconsider a motion for summary judgment that he had previously filed, contending that Plaintiffs' claims against him were barred by the statute of limitations. He based his argument on media coverage relating to the program, including television programs and newspaper articles that were published from the 1980s through the mid-1990s. The district court determined as a matter of law that, in light of this publicity, Plaintiffs should have
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