Wetherill v. Lilly & Co

In Wetherill v. Lilly & Co. 89 N.Y.2d 506 [1997], it was undisputed that the primary conditions that formed the basis of plaintiff's claim--her dysplasia (1978/1979), her miscarriages (1980-1986), her misshapen uterus (1987), and her incompetent cervix (1988)--were all known to her by 1988. Thus, the Court held her 1992 action was commenced more than three years after her discovery of the injury. However, the Court explicitly made the following acknowledgment: "We recognize that there may be situations in which the claimant may experience early symptoms that are too isolated or inconsequential to trigger the running of the Statute of Limitations under CPLR 214-c (2). We need not decide in this case, however, precisely where the threshold lies, since there is no doubt that by 1988 this plaintiff was formally diagnosed as having a combination of serious reproductive abnormalities, the very abnormalities that constitute the harm for which she seeks recovery. Under these facts, we need hold only that a 'discovery of the injury' occurs within the meaning of CPLR 214-c (2) when the plaintiff is diagnosed with the primary condition for which damages are sought." (Wetherill v. Lilly & Co., supra at 514, n 4.)