Reichelt v. Johns-Manville Corp

In Reichelt v. Johns-Manville Corp., 107 Wn.2d 761, 765, 733 P.2d 530 (1987), the plaintiff ultimately sued 28 asbestos manufacturers in 1980 for his injuries associated with asbestos exposure. Reichelt knew in 1971 he had asbestosis caused by exposure to asbestos products. He left his work due to asbestosis in 1974 and protested the closing of his industrial insurance claim in 1976 stating his understanding of the disease and his limitations. The Court held Reichelt should have known of his cause of action, as a matter of law, long before he filed his lawsuit, even though he did not know the identity of all the manufacturers; the Court approved of the Court of Appeals' disposition of the discovery rule issue: That court the Court of Appeals further decided that Reichelt knew the identities of 14 of the 28 defendants by 1974, at the time he quit his job installing asbestos insulation. It also concluded that by the exercise of reasonable diligence, he could have determined the identities of the other manufacturers by October 20, 1977, and also could have ascertained whether their products reached him without substantial change. 107 Wn.2d at 771.