Martha E. Groce, Kenneth Groce v. Johns-Manville Sales Corporation, et al.

Summary

The court denied Asbestos Corporation Limited's motion for summary judgment or partial summary judgment in an asbestos product-liability action. It held that the plaintiffs' negligence and strict-liability claims accrued when Martha Groce was diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease and were timely under Indiana's two-year limitation periods. The court also concluded that the ten-year product-liability cutoff did not bar the claims because ACL's last delivery of asbestos to the employer occurred in 1976, and that the husband's derivative loss-of-consortium claim was likewise timely.

Holdings

1. Under Indiana law, a claim for an injury caused by a disease resulting from protracted exposure to a foreign substance accrues when the plaintiff knew or should have discovered that the injury was caused by the product or act of another. Martha Groce's claims accrued on February 15, 1980, when she was diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, and her March 17, 1981 filing was within the applicable two-year limitation period.
2. Martha Groce's product-liability claim was timely under Indiana Code § 33-1-1.5-5 because ACL last delivered asbestos to her employer in 1976, within ten years before the action was filed in 1981. ACL therefore was not entitled to partial summary judgment based on the ten-year cutoff.
3. Kenneth Groce's derivative loss-of-consortium claim was not barred because Martha Groce's underlying negligence and strict-liability claims were timely.

Questions Presented

1. When did Martha Groce's asbestos-related negligence and strict-liability claims accrue for purposes of Indiana's two-year limitation periods?
2. Were Martha Groce's claims barred in whole or in part by Indiana's ten-year product-liability cutoff?
3. Was Kenneth Groce's derivative loss-of-consortium claim barred if Martha Groce's underlying claims were timely?

Disposition

other