Abstract
In Missouri, for purposes of determining when the statute of limitations begins to run, a cause of action shall not be deemed to accrue when the alleged wrong or breach of duty occurs, but rather when the "damage resulting therefrom is sustained and is capable of ascertainment." While this test has governed Missouri tort cases since 1919, when it was explicitly written into Missouri statutory law, courts have struggled in determining when damages are "capable of ascertainment" in order to satisfy the test. In Powel v. Chaminade College Preparatory, Inc., the Supreme Court of Missouri attempted to establish a generally applicable, objective standard for determining when damages are "sustained and . . . capable of ascertainment.", While the court succeeded in clearly prescribing a standard, application of the standard under the specific facts of Powel set a troubling precedent in repressed memory sexual abuse cases.
Recommended Citation
John Daly Cooney,
Determining When to Start the Clock: The Capable Ascertainment Standard and Repressed Memory Sexual Abuse Cases,
72 Mo. L. Rev.
(2007)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol72/iss2/6