SHERRI DEEM V. THE WILLIAM POWELL COMPANY, No. 20-35165 (9th Cir. 2022)
Annotate this Case
Plaintiff, acting as the representative for her deceased husband, filed a suit in federal court seeking damages under a wrongful death theory from entities who manufactured, sold, and distributed asbestos-containing products to which her husband could have been exposed. Her husband worked as an outside machinist onboard a ship at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. His duties included removing and installing piping insulation, gaskets, and other parts that may have contained asbestos in various compartments throughout the ships. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma on February 20, 2015, and he died on July 3, 2015.
The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of a wrongful death claim under admiralty jurisdiction and remanded for reconsideration of Plaintiff’s claims in light of the court’s holding that the statute of limitations began to accrue on the date of her husband’s death. The court held that a wrongful death claim in admiralty can only accrue on or after the death of the seaman, and not before. The court applied federal law and distinguished wrongful death claims from survival statutes permitting personal injury claims of an injured individual after death. Thus, the accrual of the three-year statute of limitations for maritime torts, 46 U.S.C. Sec. 30106, began to run on the date of death of her husband and not on the date of discovery of the injury or illness that ultimately resulted in his death.
Court Description: Admiralty. Reversing the district court’s dismissal of a wrongful death claim under admiralty jurisdiction, the panel held that a wrongful death claim in admiralty can only accrue on or after the death of the seaman, and not before. Thomas Deem’s work as an outside machinist onboard ships at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard included removing and installing piping insulation, gaskets, and other parts that may have contained asbestos in various compartments throughout the ships. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma on February 20, 2015, and he died on July 3, 2015. His wife, Sherri Deem, filed suit in federal court on June 28, 2018, seeking damages under a wrongful death theory from entities who manufactured, sold, and distributed asbestos-containing products to which Thomas Deem could have been exposed. Applying federal law, and distinguishing wrongful death claims from survival statutes permitting personal injury claims of an injured individual after death, the panel held that a wrongful death claim cannot arise or accrue before death even if the cause of death is anticipated. Thus, the accrual of the three-year statute of limitations for maritime torts, 46 U.S.C. § 30106, began to run on the date of death of Thomas Deem, and not on the date of discovery of the injury or illness that ultimately resulted in his death. DEEM V. THE WILLIAM POWELL CO. 3 The panel remanded to the district court for reconsideration of Sherri Deem’s claims in light of the panel’s holding that the statute of limitations began to accrue on the date of Thomas Deem’s alleged wrongful death, and not before that death.