The application of the discovery rule regarding tolling of the statute of limitations is not applicable where the plaintiff's alleged injuries improved, rather than worsened, after the date of loss.

The plaintiff appealed from a court order granting the defendant's motion for summary judgment. The case involved a personal injury suit resulting from a motor vehicle accident on January 7, 2007. The plaintiff filed suit on June 8, 2009, and the defendants were granted summary judgment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The plaintiff had limited tort and, in order to recover damages, needed to overcome the threshold in establishing a "serious bodily injury." The plaintiff claimed that her injuries did not cross the limited tort threshold until after June 8, 2007, when they stopped improving under her course of treatment. The court rejected the plaintiff's argument, citing Walls v. Scheckler, 700 a.2d 532 (Pa. Super. 1997). The court reasoned that if the plaintiff's treatment resulted in some improvement, yet left her injuries serious enough to pass the threshold, then her injuries at the onset were worse. Therefore, they could have passed the threshold at the time the injury was sustained. As a result, the plaintiff could not argue that she did not know of her injury or that it was caused by another's actions. The award of summary judgment in the defendants' favor was subsequently affirmed.

Case Law Alert - 3rd Qtr 2010