We have always had a soft spot for zebras.   They are the equine world's version of some of our favorite acquaintances — the ones who always dress a little outlandishly and always stand out from the crowd. (Fun facts:   1. Although most zebras have black stripes on a white background, a white-on-black specimen shows up every now and again.   2. All zebras have dark-pigmented skin under their coats, and the stripes are only hair-deep. Compare Dalmatians, whose spots are visible on their skin from the birth, though the spotted fur comes later.)   Zebra fondness aside, we often find ourselves, in our ongoing occupation of the mass tort space, arguing that plaintiffs hearing hoof-beats should have thought "horses," not "zebras." Less obtusely, we mean that judges should apply the discovery rule correctly and should hold that suits are time-barred when plaintiffs with adequate information fail to make obvious causal connections within the correct limitations period.

That is why we were so happy to read today's case. We rarely report on statute-of-limitations decisions, but Adams v. Zimmer, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136707 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 14, 2018), is a worthy exception.   In Adams, the plaintiff underwent surgery to replace her right hip joint, and was implanted with the defendant's prosthetic hip, in January 2011. Eight months after surgery, in September 2012, she began experiencing pain in the region of the artificial hip. When the pain didn't abate, the plaintiff's doctor performed blood tests to test her metal ion levels because there had been reports of adverse local tissue reaction to the metals used in the artificial hip. There was no definitive diagnosis at that time, but the plaintiff's doctor testified that, by February 2013, he informed the plaintiff that the prosthetic hip might be causing her symptoms.

The plaintiff dislocated her right hip in November 2014.   She testified in deposition that she knew that the prosthetic hip had dislocated and that this was "abnormal." On January 7, 2015, her doctor noted in his records that he recommended "further investigation of the right hip," and that the plaintiff might require surgery to replace the femoral head. 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136707 at *9. In deposition, the doctor testified repeatedly that he had informed the plaintiff of his recommendation and of the possible need for revision of the artificial hip. Testing performed on January 12, 2015 confirmed a tissue reaction to the artificial hip, and, by January 30, 2015, the plaintiff had decided to proceed with hip revision surgery. In her deposition, she testified that she understood that the surgery would involve replacing the defendant's device with a new prosthesis. She underwent surgery on February 12, 2015 and filed her complaint on February 10, 2017. The defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that Pennsylvania's two-year statute of limitations barred the plaintiff's claims.

The plaintiff argued that she "did not make the factual connection" between her injury and the defendant's device until the date of surgery.  Id. at *20. If this were true, then she would have beaten the statute by two days. But the judge wasn't buying it. Explaining that "as soon as, through the exercise of reasonable diligence, the injured party should be able to link her injury to the conduct of another, the clock begins to run," id. at *23-24, the court held that the plaintiff "knew or should have known that the [defendant's device] was a factual cause of her injury by the time she decided to proceed with hip revision surgery on January 30, 2015." Id. at *26. In other words, "once [the plaintiff] knew for certain that [her doctor] needed to remove the [device], she had received enough facts to make the connection between her injury" and the device, and "no reasonable juror could conclude otherwise." Id. at *27. Nor was the court swayed by the plaintiff's argument that, even if she knew that the device was causing her symptoms, she did not know it was "defective" until it was removed. The court emphasized, "This misstates the legal standard," which required only that the plaintiff connect her injuries to the device to start the clock running on her claims. Id. at 31. Finally, while the court acknowledged that the plaintiff hadn't missed the running of the statute by much, and that granting summary judgment would deny the plaintiff recourse for serious injuries, it held that it could not "arbitrarily enforce the statute of limitations," however sympathetic the plaintiff, and that it was "constrained to grant the motion for summary judgment." Id. at *33-34.

We have been on the receiving end of all of the arguments the plaintiff made in Adams. And we have fought – not always successfully – for decisions that apply the law rigorously and aren't swayed by sympathy. We are pleased that the Adams court did just that.

This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.