Coal Miners’ Respirator Claims Barred by Statute of Limitations, WV Supreme Court Finds

A group of coal miners with lung disease waited too late to sue 3M Corp. and other respirator manufacturers and suppliers, the Supreme Court of West Virginia said this month in upholding lower courts’ findings that the statute of limitation on product liability had long since passed.

The court cited previous court rulings that have established a five-step analysis to determine if a legal action is time-barred by West Virginia’s two-year statute of limitation on injury suits. The court looked at date of medical diagnosis and date of black lung and other disability benefits, and found that the plaintiffs knew or should have known of their injuries as far back as 1998 in one case – all in time to beat the deadline.

Part of the case hinged on the Dunn vs. Rockwell court ruling in 2009, which helped establish the statute of limitations analysis. The miners’ attorneys argued that the men did not have full knowledge of their injuries until later, that manufacturers concealed information, and that a lower court erred in granting summary judgment that dismissed their claims.

“Petitioners misunderstand Dunn’s standard: the fraudulent concealment factor is not concealment of the defect itself,” the justices wrote. “By its explicit terms, Dunn equitably tolls the statute of limitations where a defendant’s fraudulent concealment is of evidence that prevented the plaintiff from discovering or pursuing a cause of action.”

But the plaintiffs’ cited acts of concealment were disclosed in the discovery phase of the lawsuit and did not delay filing of their legal actions, the court said.

“Petitioners conflate fraudulent concealment of a cause of action with nondisclosure that the products were defective,” the opinion reads. “Petitioners have produced no evidence that any Respondent interfered with their ability to investigate their claims to discover their causes of action. Rather, as discussed above in relation to each individual Petitioner, Petitioners did not conduct any investigation at all into their claims. We thus find no evidence of fraudulent concealment so as to toll Petitioners’ claims under Dunn.”

The 65-page opinion can be seen here.

Related: Coal Miners with Black Lung Say Government Cuts are Suffocating the Working Man

Topics Claims