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Castano v. American Tobacco Co.

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana · 1996 · Civil Procedure

Civil ProcedureSummary JudgmentPrescriptionsummary judgmentaffirmative defenseprescriptiondelictual actionsreasonable knowledge

Facts

The plaintiffs asserted the same theory previously advanced by the former class: that defendants fraudulently failed to inform consumers that nicotine is addictive and manipulated nicotine levels to sustain addiction. Castaño brought a survival claim on behalf of her deceased husband, and Perry, a smoker and pharmacist, alleged similar addiction-based claims. Defendants argued that deposition testimony showed the plaintiffs knew long before suit that smoking caused inability to quit, emotional distress, and related losses. Plaintiffs responded that their claims did not arise merely from knowing smoking was hard to quit, but from later learning of defendants' alleged concealment of nicotine's addictiveness and manipulation of nicotine levels.

Issue

Whether the defendants established, as a matter of law on summary judgment, that the plaintiffs had sufficient actual or constructive knowledge more than one year before suit to begin Louisiana prescription on these addiction-based claims. More specifically, the question was whether prior awareness of an inability to quit smoking or of "addiction" necessarily triggered prescription for claims alleging that defendants caused that addiction through concealment and nicotine manipulation.

Rule

Prescription is an affirmative defense, and defendants bear the burden of proving it; on summary judgment, that means showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Louisiana prescriptive statutes are strictly construed against prescription. Prescription does not begin at the earliest possible indication of some wrong, but when the plaintiff has a reasonable basis to pursue a claim against a specific defendant; ignorance of the facts underlying the claim prevents prescription from running so long as that ignorance is not unreasonable.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In New Orleans, Lena Ortiz sued Harbor Leaf Products, alleging the company secretly altered the chemical delivery system of its herbal inhalers while publicly denying that the product created dependency. Harbor Leaf moved for summary judgment, pointing to Lena's testimony that she had known for years she could not stop using the inhalers and that they were causing her anxiety and family conflict.

How should the court rule on the motion?

Explanation. Prescription is an affirmative defense, so the defendant moving for summary judgment must show no genuine issue of material fact. Under the majority's reasoning, a court must identify the actual claim pleaded. Where the claim is dependency-as-injury caused by the defendant's alleged concealment and manipulation, mere knowledge of inability to quit and resulting distress does not necessarily start prescription as a matter of law.