Iron Wing v. Catholic Diocese
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Plaintiff brought suit against several parties in the Catholic church for sexual abuse committed more than forty years earlier, averring that the abuse was perpetrated by a nun and a priest at a boarding school he attended. Defendants moved for summary judgment, asserting that the limitations period had expired on Plaintiff's claims because he failed to commence his action within three years of the abuse or within three years of the time he discovered or reasonably should have discovered his injury or condition was caused by the abuse in accordance with S.D. Codified Laws 26-10-25. The circuit court granted summary judgment for Defendants, concluding that Plaintiff never forgot the alleged abuse and was aware more than three years before commencing suit that his anger and hatred stemmed from this abuse. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Plaintiff was on inquiry notice more than three years before he brought suit because circumstances, including Plaintiff's anger and hatred against the church from the time he was in eleventh grade and his leaving school because of the abuse, were sufficient to prompt a reasonably prudent person to seek out information regarding his injury or condition and its cause.
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