He knew at that time that he had not been warned of that risk. As we said in Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 664, 639 P.2d 1284, rev den 292 Or. 722 (1982), "[P]laintiff's discovery was complete when he perceived his difficulties and knew that his doctor had failed to warn him of these particular problems — permanent or not." We agree with the trial court that, as a matter of law, the claim based on lack of informed consent is time-barred.
245 Or at 315-16. In Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 663, 639 P.2d 1284, rev den 292 Or. 722 (1982) (involving medical malpractice and applying ORS 12.110(4)), we explained: "A plaintiff should discover that he has a cause of action when he realizes (1) that he has been injured, (2) that the injury can be attributed to an act of the alleged tortfeasor, and (3) that the act of the alleged tortfeasor was somehow negligent. * * *"
In Oregon, the appellate court likewise concluded that a "plaintiff should discover that he has a cause of action when he realizes (1) that he has been injured; (2) that the injury can be attributed to an act of the alleged tortfeasor, and (3) that the act of the alleged tortfeasor was somehow negligent." Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 663, 639 P.2d 1284, 1286 (1982). The Oregon court rationalized such a construction of the discovery rule by noting:
We held that the plaintiff's cause of action had accrued at the time of the accident, because he knew then that he had been injured and that the accident was attributable to the negligence of the defendant. The fact that he initially thought that his injury was only minor did not mean that a new cause of action accrued when he later learned that he had suffered an unanticipated kind of harm. So, too, in Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 639 P.2d 1284 (1982), we held that the plaintiff knew that he was harmed when he had an infection in his leg shortly after surgery; he did not have a new cause of action when he learned that his leg would have to be amputated. "[P]laintiff's discovery was complete when he perceived his difficulties and knew that his doctor had failed to warn him of these particular problems — permanent or not." 55 Or App at 664.
A number of courts have, however, adopted discovery rules under which a cause of action does not accrue until the plaintiff discovers or in the exercise of due diligence should discover, in addition to his injury and its cause, that the injury has resulted from some negligence or wrongdoing on the part of the defendant, some actionable wrong. See Dawson v. Eli Lilly and Co., supra (applying D.C. Law); Goodman v. Mead Johnson Co., 534 F.2d 566, 575 (3d Cir. 1976) (applying New Jersey law); Anderson v. Shook, 333 N.W.2d 708 (N.D. 1983); Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or.App. 658, 639 P.2d 1284, 1286 (1982); Jacoby v. Kaiser Foundation Hospital, 1 Haw.App. 519, 622 P.2d 613 (1981); Foil v. Ballinger, 601 P.2d 144, 147 (Utah 1979); Brown v. Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, 117 N.H. 739, 378 A.2d 1138 (1977); Owens v. Brochner, 172 Colo. 525, 474 P.2d 603 (Colo. 1970).
Further, under Oregon law, in the context of an alleged violation of informed consent, "plaintiff's discovery was complete when he perceived his difficulties and knew that his doctor had failed to warn him of these particular problems-permanent or not." Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 664, 639 P.2d 1284, rev. denied, 292 Or. 722, 644 P.2d 1131 (1982) (emphasis added); see also Gaston v. Parsons, 117 Or. App. 555, 558, 844 P.2d 941 (1993) (doctor's assurances relevant to timeliness of medical malpractice claim, but court did not consider them in context of informed consent claim), aff'd on other grounds, 318 Or. 247, 864 P.2d 1319. Any assurances Dr. Arrendondo gave Walton after the surgery, and whether they constitute "fraud, deceit or [a] misleading representation," are irrelevant. Walton knew at least as of February 15, 2011 that he suffered from a condition Dr. Arrendondo had not warned him about. Consequently, Dr. Arrendondo's assurances do not toll the statute of limitations.
" (Citation omitted; emphasis in original.) In the trial court, plaintiff relied on the formulation of those elements found in Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 639 P.2d 1284 (1982). The third prong of the test in that case was described as "the act of the alleged tortfeasor was negligent."
An Oregon appellate court similarly concluded that a "plaintiff should discover that he has a cause of action when he realizes (1) that he has been injured, (2) that the injury can be attributed to an act of the alleged tortfeasor, and (3) that the act of the alleged tortfeasor was somehow negligent." Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 663, 639 P.2d 1284, 1286 (1982). See Dawson, supra, 543 F. Supp. at 1334-36 for further discussion of jurisdictions which adopt this view.
In that respect, this case is similar to those malpractice and products liability cases in which courts have held that statutes of limitation did not begin to run where plaintiffs received reassurances from defendants that prevented plaintiffs from having sufficient certainty about the existence of facts pertaining to the elements of the statutes of limitation. See Gaston, 318 Or at 260-61; Forest Grove Brick v. Strickland, 277 Or 81, 559 P2d 502 (1977); Hoeck, 149 Or App at 613-14; Penuel v. Titan/Value Equities Group, Inc., 127 Or App 195, 200-01, 872 P2d 28, rev den, 319 Or 150 (1994); Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or App 658, 662-63, 639 P2d 1284, rev den, 292 Or 722 (1982). In those cases, a manufacturer's assurance that a product could be fixed or a doctor's assurance that an untoward effect was normal and not the result of negligence presented each plaintiff with several alternative explanations for the injury, only one of which supported the plaintiff's tort claim.
In that respect, the discovery rule may be somewhat more narrow in Massachusetts than in many other States where a cause of action accrues only when a plaintiff has notice of all the elements of a cause of action. See, e.g., Anderson v. Shook, 333 N.W.2d 708, 712 (N.D. 1983); Hoffman v. Rockey, 55 Or. App. 658, 663 (1982); Jacoby v. Kaiser Foundation Hosp., 1 Haw. App. 519, 525 (1981). Our courts have not had occasion to rule on the more general question, related to the precise issue in the present case, whether application of the discovery rule delays accrual of a cause of action until the plaintiff knows or should know the identity of the particular defendant claimed to be responsible for the harm.