Attorneys Alexandersen & Mountcastle Receive Summary Judgment for Railroad Client

Attorneys Kevin Alexandersen and Colleen Mountcastle received a summary judgment granted by Judge Navarre of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas in favor of a railroad client.  The decision finds that the statute of limitations expired by the time Plaintiff filed a lawsuit under the Federal Employers Liability Act.  In finding the complaint untimely, the Court applied the discovery rule and determined that despite the significant gap between Plaintiff’s employment and diagnosis, Plaintiff’s exposure to chemicals had ‘always been on his mind’ as a potential cause of his cancer. This was sufficient to warrant Plaintiff conducting an inquiry into his suspicions once he was diagnosed with cancer, thus triggering the timeframe for filing suit.  Further, the Court cited case law explaining that the statute of limitations is not triggered by when a Plaintiff learns of the possibility of recovery, it is triggered by when the Plaintiff knew or should have known of the potential causes of his disease.