Sherri Deem v. the William Powell Company, 33f4th554

Thomas Deem was an outside marine machinist at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard who worked with shipboard materials that may have contained asbestos.
Deem was diagnosed with mesothelioma on February 20, 2015, and died on July 3, 2015.
Sherri Deem (his wife) filed a wrongful death admiralty suit on June 28, 2018, naming manufacturers/distributors of asbestos-containing products; defendants moved to dismiss as time-barred under the three-year maritime limitations statute (46 U.S.C. § 30106).
The district court applied a discovery accrual rule, concluding the statute began to run when Thomas Deem learned of his diagnosis (Feb. 2015), and dismissed Sherri Deem’s claim as untimely.
The Ninth Circuit reviewed accrual and statute-of-limitations questions de novo and considered whether wrongful-death claims under general maritime law accrue at the decedent’s discovery of injury or only upon (or after) death.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
When does a wrongful-death claim under admiralty law accrue for statute-of-limitations purposes?	Deem: accrual begins at the decedent’s death (so suit filed within three years of death is timely).	Defendants: accrual follows the discovery rule; it begins when the decedent learned of the injury/diagnosis.	Accrual for a maritime wrongful-death claim cannot occur before death; it begins on the date of death (or, if cause of death is unknown at death, when the cause is or should be discovered).

Sea-Land Servs., Inc. v. Gaudet, 414 U.S. 573 (1974) (distinguishes wrongful-death claims from survival/personal-injury claims under maritime law)
Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., 398 U.S. 375 (1970) (recognizes general maritime wrongful-death actions and differentiates them from survival actions)
Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163 (1949) (applies discovery rule for accrual under FELA)
United States v. Kubrick, 444 U.S. 111 (1979) (applies discovery rule for accrual under FTCA; requires discovery of injury and cause, not knowledge of negligence)
White v. Mercury Marine, Div. of Brunswick, Inc., 129 F.3d 1428 (11th Cir. 1997) (applies discovery rule for maritime accrual questions but discusses limits where wrongful death is at issue)
Miller v. Philadelphia Geriatric Ctr., 463 F.3d 266 (3d Cir. 2006) (holds wrongful-death claims under FTCA cannot accrue prior to death)
In re Swine Flu Prod. Liab. Litig., 764 F.2d 637 (9th Cir. 1985) (discusses split among circuits whether discovery rule extends to wrongful-death accrual)
Fisk v. United States, 657 F.2d 167 (7th Cir. 1981) (holds that where state statute creates independent wrongful-death cause, accrual is at death)