Santiago v. Becton Dickinson & Co., SA

• Decision Date: 27 May 1982
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 78-1603.
• Citation: 539 F. Supp. 1149
• Parties: Ana M. SANTIAGO, Carmen Martinez, Etanislao Nuñez, Petra Baez Diaz, Carmen Ada Torres, Ricardo Torres, Edna Ivette Torres, Carmen M. Rodriguez Baez, J. Rodriguez Baez, Casimiro Rodriguez, Vilma Rodriguez, Plaintiffs, v. BECTON DICKINSON & CO., S. A., and/or Becton Dickinson & Co., Inc., and/or Becton Dickinson & Co., and/or Becton Dickinson and/or American Cyanamid Co. and Sandoz Colors and Chemicals, Division of Sandoz Inc., and Sandoz Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

539 F. Supp. 1149

Ana M. SANTIAGO, Carmen Martinez, Etanislao Nuñez, Petra Baez Diaz, Carmen Ada Torres, Ricardo Torres, Edna Ivette Torres, Carmen M. Rodriguez Baez, J. Rodriguez Baez, Casimiro Rodriguez, Vilma Rodriguez, Plaintiffs, v. BECTON DICKINSON & CO., S. A., and/or Becton Dickinson & Co., Inc., and/or Becton Dickinson & Co., and/or Becton Dickinson and/or American Cyanamid Co. and Sandoz Colors and Chemicals, Division of Sandoz Inc., and Sandoz Inc., Defendants.

Civ. No. 78-1603.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

May 27, 1982.

Jaime Pieras, Jr., Hato Rey, P. R., and Carlos J. Ortiz, San Juan, P. R., for plaintiffs.

Bauzá & Dávila by José L. Gándara, Old San Juan, P. R., for Sandoz.

Miranda-Cárdenas, De Corral & Rodríguez by Ernesto F. Rodríguez-Surís, San Juan, P. R., for Becton.

Fiddler, González & Rodríguez by Pedro J. Polanco, San Juan, P. R., for American Cyanamid.

OPINION AND ORDER

CEREZO, District Judge.

This is an action for recovery of damages suffered in an employment related activity. Federal jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship. Defendants Becton Dickinson & Co. S. A., American Cyanamid Co. (ACC), Sandoz Inc. and Colors and Chemicals Division of Sandoz Inc. (Sandoz)¹ have filed motions for summary judgment alleging that the actions of certain plaintiffs are time barred. Codefendants ACC and Sandoz specifically claim that the actions of all plaintiffs are time barred since the amended pleading substituting them for John Doe defendants cannot relate back to the filing date of the original complaint. Sandoz further alleges that the complaint fails to state a cause of action against it for it only sold one shipment of dye on a date in which one of the two injured workers had already ceased working while the other worked for only a short time thereafter.

Ana M. Santiago and Petra Báez, the two injured workers, have claimed that as part of their employment in Peg Bandage, Inc. they were intoxicated with a dye used in the manufacture of band-aids. Ana M. Santiago worked with Peg Bandage, Inc. and its alleged predecessor, Paulis Silk Co. and Ace Bandage, Inc., from September 1971 to February 1974 while Petra Báez worked in this factory from November 1971 to May 1975. They commenced administrative proceedings pursuant to Puerto Rico's Workmen's Accident Compensation Act (PRWACA), P.R.Laws Ann. Tit. 11, Sec. 1 et seq. The administrative decision as to Santiago became final on September 1977 and as to Báez on October 5, 1977.

The original complaint filed on August 24, 1978 included unknown defendants as the manufacturers of the harmful dye. On August 20, 1979, in response to an interrogatory sent by plaintiffs on February 1979 requesting the names of the manufacturers of the dye, codefendant Becton Dickinson & Co. (the parent corporation of Peg Bandage Inc.) answered that from February 1973 to May 1974 Peg Bandage Inc. used a dye obtained from ACC and that on March 1975 they received a shipment of dye from Sandoz. The complaint was amended on September 26, 1979 to substitute the unnamed defendants for ACC and Sandoz. These moved for summary judgment in December 1980 and accompanied sworn statements admitting that they sold the dye but asserting that it was manufactured by Young Aniline Works, Inc.² in Baltimore, Maryland and that they had not received notice of the complaint until November 1979. All defendants joined in seeking dismissal of the claims of all non-PRWACA beneficiaries who were of legal age one year before the complaint was filed and of the conjugal partnership of Petra Báez and Casimiro Rodríguez on the ground that the administrative proceeding provided by PRWACA only tolled the statute of limitations for the beneficiaries, and, since no worker had died as a result of the employment accident, only the two injured workers could be considered beneficiaries. Plaintiffs have opposed these motions urging that the allegations in the original complaint are sufficient to include the seller of the dye as a John Doe defendant and that the action is not time barred as to the minors since the statute of limitations for this type of action does not commence until they reach legal age. This being a diversity case, we must review applicable statutes and case law of Puerto Rico on matters related to time limitations. Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938); Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U.S. 99, 65 S.Ct. 1464, 89 L.Ed. 2079 (1945); Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965).

The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has often held that the matter of extinctive prescription is a substantive, not procedural, question, governed by the Civil Code of Puerto Rico (Civil Code); Articles 1830 to 1875, P.R.Laws Ann., Tit. 31, Secs. 5241-5305. Febo Ortega v. Superior Court, 102 DPR 405 (1974). In Puerto Rico, tort actions have a one-year statute of limitations which accrues upon the victim's knowledge of the injury. Article 1868, Civil Code (1930 ed.); P.R.Laws Ann., Tit. 31, Sec. 5298; González v. Pérez, 57 PRR 843 (1941). This may be tolled by filing a judicial action, by an extrajudicial claim or demand that effectively reaches the tort-feasor or by an express recognition by the tort-feasor of his liability. Article 1873 Civil Code, P.R.Laws Ann., Tit. 31, Sec. 5303; Díaz de Diana v. A. J. A. S. Ins. Co., ___ DPR ___, December 11, 1980, 80 JTS 95. In the case of minors, the time period does not commence until they have attained legal age 21 years for civil matters; Article 217, Civil Code of Puerto Rico (1930 ed.) P.R.Laws Ann., Tit. 31, Sec. 971. Article 40, Code of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico; P.R.Laws Ann., Tit. 32, Sec. 254; Valentín v. Jaime, 86 PRR 735 (1962); Marques v. Superior Court, 85 PRR 536, 539 (1962). Another exception to the one-year time limitation is established by PRWACA when the injured worker, his surviving beneficiaries or the Administrator of the Workmen's Accident Compensation Fund institute judicial proceedings against a non-employer third party after conclusion of the administrative proceedings. P.R. Laws Ann., Tit. 11, Sec. 32. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico when interpreting this section of the statute has repeatedly stated that since the injured worker or his surviving beneficiaries cannot file a claim in court during the pendency of the administrative proceeding, the statute of limitations does not commence to run until the administrative decision is final. Tropigas de P. R. v. Tribunal Superior, 102 DPR 630 (1974). However, since non-beneficiaries may file a claim against a third party at any time after the accident occurs, the statute of limitation as to them is not interrupted by the administrative proceeding and they must file their actions within the period prescribed by statute. Franco v. Mayaguez Building, 108 DPR 192, 195 (1978); El Día Inc. v. Superior Court, 104 DPR 149 (1975). When the injury does not result in the worker's death, the worker is considered as the sole beneficiary. Id., at 151-152. See: Tropigas de P. R. v. Superior Court, 102 DPR 630 (1974). The claim for loss of earnings, lucro cesante, belongs to the conjugal partnership and it must be brought by this separate entity. Franco v. Mayaguez Building, ante. In the present case plaintiffs Carmen Martínez, Etanislao Núñez, Casimiro Rodríguez, the conjugal partnership of Casimiro Rodríguez and Petra Báez as well as the children of the injured workers were not beneficiaries because neither of the two workers has died. The complaint is, therefore, time barred as to all of the non-beneficiary plaintiffs who were of legal age a year before the filing of any of the complaints as well as to the conjugal partnership of Petra Báez and Casimiro Rodríguez. These plaintiffs have also failed to allege or demonstrate that the limitations period was interrupted as to any of them in some other way.

On the matter of whether the amendment substituting codefendants ACC and Sandoz for John Doe and Richard Roe should relate back to the original complaint, it is clear that if it does not the action by all plaintiffs would be time barred as to them since more than a year elapsed between the final PRWACA decision and the filing of the amended pleading. ACC and Sandoz rely on the decisions of many Circuits³ which have applied the criteria of Rule 15(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, requiring that the claim or defense contained in the amendment derive from the occurrence set forth in the original pleading and that the party to be brought have received adequate notice of the complaint and knew or should have known that, but for a mistake in designation, the action would have been brought against him. Our Circuit, however, has adopted a different position in determining which rule is applicable when jurisdiction hinges on diversity. In Marshall v. Mulrenin, 508 F.2d 39, 44 (1st Cir. 1974) it held that in a diversity case the question of whether an amendment substituting a party relates back to the original complaint has a direct substantive effect and that, since the application of the federal rule of procedure defeated substantive state rights, state law should be applied. See: Covell v. Safetech, Inc., 90 F.R.D. 427, 433 (D.C.Mass.1981). Aside from the fact that the federal rules do not deal with the particular problem of John Doe defendants; see: Walker v. Armco Steel Corp., 446 U.S. 740, 100 S.Ct. 1978, 64 L.Ed.2d 659 (1980); Hanna v. Plumer, ante; Covell v. Safetech, ante, and generally Feinstein v. Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., 643 F.2d 880 (1st Cir. 1981), Puerto Rico's Rules of Civil Procedure (PRRCP) provide a mechanism by which a plaintiff may interrupt the statute of limitations by relating the substitution of an unknown defendant back to the time of the filing of the original complaint. Rule 15.5, PRRCP, whose standard is considerably less stringent than that of its federal counterpart, provides that if a defendant's...