Keller v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court addresses when the two-year limitations period under ORS 30.907(1) begins for an asbestos-related product-liability action. The court holds that a reasonable juror could find that the plaintiff did not actually discover, and should not necessarily have discovered, that asbestos caused his pulmonary disease before a 2000 medical diagnosis. The court affirms the Court of Appeals, reverses the circuit court's judgment, and remands for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. The evidence did not compel a finding that Keller actually discovered more than two years before filing suit that asbestos had caused his pulmonary disease. His knowledge that asbestos was a possible cause, and his references to "asbestos lungs," could reasonably be viewed as his own supposition rather than a medical diagnosis.
2. Whether a plaintiff, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have discovered an asbestos-related disease and its cause depends on the evidence concerning the nature of the disease, its latency, and the difficulty of diagnosing asbestos as the cause. On this record, a reasonable juror could find that Keller should not have discovered the disease and its cause more than two years before suit was filed.
3. Defendant was not entitled to summary judgment on its statute-of-limitations defense because the record permitted a reasonable juror to find that Keller did not discover and reasonably should not have discovered his asbestos-related disease and its cause until April 2000.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the summary judgment record established as a matter of law that Keller actually discovered, more than two years before filing suit, that he had an asbestos-related disease and that asbestos was its cause under ORS 30.907(1).
2. Whether Keller, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have discovered more than two years before filing suit that he had an asbestos-related disease and its cause under ORS 30.907(1).

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded