Olsen v. Hooley

• Decision Date: 27 October 1993
• Docket Number: No. 910125,910125
• Citation: 865 P.2d 1345
• Parties: Lisa Hooley OLSEN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Harold K. HOOLEY, Garth Hooley, Cary Hooley, Steven Hooley, and Harold William Hooley, Defendants and Appellees.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 1345

865 P.2d 1345

Lisa Hooley OLSEN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Harold K. HOOLEY, Garth Hooley, Cary Hooley, Steven Hooley and Harold William Hooley, Defendants and Appellees.

No. 910125.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Oct. 27, 1993.

Linda Q. Jones, Provo, for plaintiff and appellant.

Wayne B. Watson, Thomas J. Scribner, Provo, for defendants and appellees.

STEWART, Justice:

The trial court dismissed plaintiff's complaint on the ground that it was barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Plaintiff appeals, arguing that because she had repressed all memory of the operative facts until after the limitations period had run, the statute of limitations was tolled. We reverse and remand.

Because this is an appeal from the grant of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, we accept as true the allegations made in the complaint. Lisa Hooley Olsen began living with her adoptive parents, Harold and Ila Hooley, when she was about two years old. She alleges that defendants Harold Hooley and his sons, Garth, Cary, Steven, and Harold William Hooley, sexually abused her starting before she entered kindergarten and continuing until she left home at the age of nineteen. Olsen alleges that sometime in 1988, after one of her brothers had been admitted to a mental institution for sexually abusing his daughter, she began to experience nightmares of being sexually abused by her father and brothers. In 1990, Olsen concluded, with the help of therapy, that her dreams were flashbacks of acts committed against her when she was young. Olsen alleges that this "realization" has caused her severe emotional trauma, including thoughts of suicide for which she has been hospitalized on at least three occasions.

On October 30, 1990, a few months after Olsen allegedly recalled the abuse but twelve years after the last alleged incident, she filed a complaint against defendants, asserting that their behavior had injured her. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that Olsen failed to file her claim within the applicable statute of limitations. Defendants argued that Olsen stated a claim for an intentional tort, which is subject to the one-year limitations period in Utah Code Ann. § 78-12-29(4), and that the limitations period began to run in 1977 when Olsen reached the age of majority. Olsen contended that her claim was really one of reckless misconduct, a form of negligence, and that the applicable limitations period is four years. She also argued that the statute of limitations was tolled during the time she repressed her memory. The trial court granted defendants' motion on the ground that the applicable statute of limitations expired before Olsen filed her complaint. The court did not specify which limitations period applied, but apparently based its ruling on the assumption that a limitations period is not tolled by a repressed memory. Under that premise, Olsen's action would be barred regardless of the applicable limitations period.

On appeal, Olsen asserts (1) that her claim falls within the four-year statute of limitations set forth in § 78-12-25(3); and (2) that the limitations period was tolled until at least 1988 because of mental incompetency or Olsen's failure to "discover" her injury. Defendants argue, as they did below, that Olsen's claim is an intentional tort subject to the one-year limitations period set forth in § 78-12-29(4) and that the statute of limitations began to run in 1977 when she reached the age of majority.

We first note that Olsen's complaint facially alleges more than one cause of action and that a different limitations period applies to each action. As defendants have pointed out, Olsen has alleged a claim for an intentional tort, which is governed by a one-year limitations period. The complaint also states a prima facie case for intentional infliction of emotional distress, i.e., that defendants intentionally or recklessly engaged in intolerable and outrageous conduct that caused Olsen severe mental or emotional distress. See Retherford v. AT & T Communications, 844 P.2d 949, 975 (Utah 1992); see also Samms v. Eccles, 11 Utah 2d 289, 293, 358 P.2d 344, 346-47 (1961). That cause of action falls within the residual four-year limitations period set forth in § 78-12-25(3). ¹ See, e.g., Retherford, 844 P.2d at 975.

Ordinarily, a limitations period begins to run when the cause of action accrues. A cause of action accrues when the last event necessary to complete the legal claim occurs. Myers v. McDonald, 635 P.2d 84, 86 (Utah 1981). With few exceptions, the statute of limitations for a cause of action that accrues during a plaintiff's minority, or incompetency, is tolled until the plaintiff reaches the age of majority or regains competency. Utah Code Ann. § 78-12-36 provides:

If a person entitled to bring an action, other than for the recovery of real property, is at the time the cause of action accrued, either under the age of majority or mentally incompetent and without a legal guardian, the time of the disability is not a part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.

Olsen argues that the repression of her memory rendered her mentally incompetent as that term is used in § 78-12-36 and that the limitations period was tolled until she recalled the abuse. This Court addressed the meaning of "mentally incompetent" in O'Neal v. Division of Family Services, 821 P.2d 1139 (Utah 1991). There, the Court held that a plaintiff is mentally incompetent for purposes of § 78-12-36 when the mental disability is such that the plaintiff cannot manage his or her business affairs or estate or comprehend his or her legal rights or liabilities. A plaintiff is also mentally incompetent when he or she is incapable of caring for his or her personal safety and providing for basic human needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. Id. at 1142.

The plaintiff in O'Neal alleged that he had been sexually abused as a child and that although he had not repressed his memory, the effects of the abuse made him incompetent to reveal that fact within the limitations period. We rejected that argument and explained that tolling statutes based on mental incompetency were enacted for the benefit of those " 'who are unable to protect their legal rights because of an overall inability to function in society.' " Id. (quoting McCarthy v. Volkswagen of Am. Inc., 55 N.Y.2d 543, 450 N.Y.S.2d 457, 435 N.E.2d 1072 (1982)). Because the plaintiff provided for himself, attended junior college, and had a solid work history, the Court held that he was not mentally incompetent for purposes of the tolling statute. Id.; see also Whatcott v. Whatcott, 790 P.2d 578, 580 (Utah Ct.App.1990).

Olsen has not alleged any facts demonstrating that she suffered from a disability preventing her from managing her affairs or providing for her basic needs. Indeed, Olsen admits that in addition to managing her own affairs, she has cared for her children and the children of others, taught crafts to others, and, in her own words, "lived an active and enjoyable life." Although Olsen has alleged that she was severely emotionally and psychologically impaired after she recalled the abuse, this impairment came after the period that Olsen argues should be tolled. In short, nothing indicates that during the time in question, Olsen was "unable to protect [her] legal rights because of an overall inability to function in society." O'Neal, 821 P.2d at 1142; see, e.g., Hildebrand v. Hildebrand, 736 F.Supp. 1512, 1524-25 (S.D.Ind.1990). The statute of limitations, therefore, cannot be tolled due to mental incompetency.

Olsen next argues that the discovery rule tolled the statute of limitations during the time she psychologically repressed her memory of the sexual abuse. Under the discovery rule, a statute of limitations does not begin to run until the plaintiff learns of, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have learned of, the facts that give rise to the cause of action. Klinger v. Kightly, 791 P.2d 868, 869 (Utah 1990); Myers v. McDonald, 635 P.2d 84, 86-87 (Utah 1981); see also Foil v. Ballinger, 601 P.2d 144, 147 (Utah 1979).

The discovery rule may apply under one of the following circumstances: (1) When the Legislature has adopted the rule by statute; ² (2) when a defendant conceals the existence of facts giving rise to knowledge of a course of action; or (3) when application of the statute of limitations would be irrational or unjust where, because of exceptional circumstances, a plaintiff has no knowledge of the cause of action until after it is barred by the limitations period. Klinger, 791 P.2d at 872; Myers, 635 P.2d at 86. Olsen argues that the circumstances of her case are exceptional, thus requiring application of the discovery rule.

In Myers v. McDonald, 635 P.2d 84, 87 (Utah 1981), we held that exceptional circumstances requiring application of the discovery rule existed when the plaintiffs were unaware of the facts giving rise to their cause of action. The plaintiffs did not become aware of the death of their ward until after the limitations period for a wrongful death action had expired. We held that the policy against stale claims was outweighed by the unique circumstances of the plaintiffs' hardship. Any problems of proof realized by the defendant because of the delay in bringing the action were no greater than those faced by the plaintiffs. Furthermore, if the plaintiffs were barred from bringing their action, "the law would be in the untenable position of having created a remedy for plaintiffs and then barring them from exercising it before they had any practical opportunity to do so." Id.; see also Klinger, 791 P.2d at 872; cf. Horton v. Goldminer's Daughter, 785 P.2d 1087 (Utah 1989).

In a practical sense, a person who has completely repressed the memory of facts giving rise to a cause of action is no more consciously aware of those facts than were the plaintiffs in...