Woodruff v. A.H. Robins Co., Inc., 83-2605

• Decision Date: 24 September 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-2605,83-2605
• Citation: 742 F.2d 228
• Parties: Mary Nancy WOODRUFF and Frank Sands Woodruff, Jr., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. A.H. ROBINS COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 228

742 F.2d 228

Mary Nancy WOODRUFF and Frank Sands Woodruff, Jr. Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. A.H. ROBINS COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 83-2605.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Sept. 24, 1984.

John R. Leach, III, Houston, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Fulbright & Jaworski, Terry O. Tottenham, David B. Weinstein, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before GEE, JOLLY and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

This diversity case centers on a question recently resolved by this circuit on facts undistinguishable from those of this case: whether, under Texas law, a cause of action in tort accrues when a plaintiff injured by a defective product learns of his injury, or whether his cause of action accrues when he learns (or reasonably could have learned) of the cause of that injury. In Mann v. A.H. Robins Company, Inc., 741 F.2d 79 (5th Cir.1984), we held that under the Texas "discovery rule," knowledge of cause in fact determines when the cause of action accrues. Applying Mann to the facts of this case, we hold that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to defendant A.H. Robins Company, Inc., on the ground that the claim of the plaintiff, Mary Nancy Woodruff, was barred by the Texas two-year statute of limitations applicable to tort actions. Because the record on appeal does not establish beyond genuine dispute when Mrs. Woodruff learned or reasonably should have learned of the cause of her illness, we remand for resolution of this factual question, dispositive of the statute of limitations issue and for further proceedings as necessary.

In January of 1972, Mary Nancy Woodruff was fitted with a Dalkon Shield intrauterine device manufactured and marketed by Robins. Following severe cramping, the IUD was removed in January of 1973, at which time Mrs. Woodruff was informed that she had developed a severe pelvic infection. A hysterectomy was necessary and was performed immediately.

Mrs. Woodruff asserts that although she knew she was ill in 1973, she did not discover the possible cause of her illness until 1981, when Mr. Woodruff read an article in The Wall Street Journal suggesting a possible causal connection between the Dalkon Shield and the pelvic infection. The Woodruffs filed this suit within a few months of reading The Wall Street Journal article and learning of the possible connection between the Dalkon Shield and Mrs. Woodruff's injuries. The district court granted summary judgment for Robins on Mrs. Woodruff's personal injury claims, on the ground that Mrs. Woodruff's suit was barred by the Texas two-year statute of limitations applicable to personal injury actions. ¹ The district court held that Mrs. Woodruff's cause of action accrued when she learned of her infection in 1973, and not in 1981, when she claims she first learned the Dalkon Shield had caused her injury. On appeal, Woodruff argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment since the Texas ...