In answering certain certified questions from the District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Supreme Court faced the question of whether the time limitations contained in the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act ("GTCA") or the statute of limitations contained in 12 O.S. sec. 95(A)(11) applied to the plaintiff's claim. The GTCA generally requires that any action brought under the GTCA be filed within 180 days after the claim is denied or deemed denied. The statute of limitations, on the other hand, appeared to require that certain prisoner-lawsuits be brought within one year of "accrual."
HELD: The Court first addressed the date on which a GTCA claim "accures." While recognizing disparate case law on the issue, the Court ultimately concluded that a review of the more "prevalent" articulations "leads one to the inescapable conclusion that a cause of action does not accrue until the claim may be maintained." In the case of a GTCA claim, a claim cannot be maintained until the claim has been denied (or until the claim has been "deemed" denied). This is because the plaintiff has no access to the courts while awaiting the political subdivision's decision.
Once the GTCA claim has "accrued," the GTCA itself governs the time limit within which the action must be filed. The statute of limitations contained in 12 O.S. sec. 95(A)(11) apparently has no application in such a situation. The language of the GTCA compelled this result, as did the principle that, in the case of a conflict, the specific controls the general.
Opinion
HELD: The Court first addressed the date on which a GTCA claim "accures." While recognizing disparate case law on the issue, the Court ultimately concluded that a review of the more "prevalent" articulations "leads one to the inescapable conclusion that a cause of action does not accrue until the claim may be maintained." In the case of a GTCA claim, a claim cannot be maintained until the claim has been denied (or until the claim has been "deemed" denied). This is because the plaintiff has no access to the courts while awaiting the political subdivision's decision.
Once the GTCA claim has "accrued," the GTCA itself governs the time limit within which the action must be filed. The statute of limitations contained in 12 O.S. sec. 95(A)(11) apparently has no application in such a situation. The language of the GTCA compelled this result, as did the principle that, in the case of a conflict, the specific controls the general.
Opinion
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