North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Plaintiff alleges that defendant’s listing of her brother’s manner of death as “undetermined” caused her severe emotional distress. Plaintiff’s claim filed 3 August 2020 alleges her severe emotional distress manifested after plaintiff “learned of the manner of death certification and continued for many months” until the manner of death was amended on 8 August 2017. The supplemental death certificate was issued on 28 August 2015. As such, the alleged harm to plaintiff occurred—and the cause of action accrued—on or about 28 August 2015, when the supplemental death certificate was issued, listing the manner of death as “undetermined,” and when plaintiff learned of the manner of death certification. Plaintiff failed to file her claim within the three-year statute of limitations applicable to the Tort Claims Act.
We affirm the Industrial Commission’s dismissal of plaintiff’s claim as untimely filed.
Defendant’s alleged failure to investigate stems from the purported, original violation—when decedent’s death certificate listed the manner of death as “undetermined.” Thus, because plaintiff alleges discrete wrongful conduct, not a continuing violation occasioned by “continual unlawful acts,” the Commission correctly concluded the continuing wrong doctrine does not apply to this case.
Carpenter v. North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-033-23, 11 pp.) (Toby Hampson, J.) Appealed from the Industrial Commission. Taylor Hastings for plaintiff; Carl Newman for defendant. N.C. App. Unpub.
