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Delivery of Policy Starts the Running of the Statute of Limitations\\n\\nWooten purchased seven Northwestern Mutual insurance policies. Three are\\n disability income policies. Four are various whole-life policies. \\nWooten purchased and reviewed the last of the policies in December 2005.\\n He sued claiming he was deceived about what he bought ten years before \\nthe suit.\\n\\nIn Wrenn Wooten v. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, \\nJimzara, And Patrick Matthews, No. 05-20-00798-CV, Court of Appeals of \\nTexas, Fifth District, Dallas (July 31, 2023) the Court of Appeals \\nresolved Wooten\'s complaint that the trial court\'s grant of summary \\njudgments in favor of appelees, was wrong.\\n\\nBACKGROUND\\n\\nOn April 17, 2018 Wooten sued. He alleged he was sold policies based on \\nmisrepresentations on coverage and benefits, wrongfully advised him, and\\n concealed misrepresentations.\\n\\nWooten bought the disability policies to provide income if he became He \\nalleged a waiver-of-premium term would have allowed him to receive \\ndisability income without paying premiums. Wooten has not filed a \\ndisability claim under the policies.\\n\\nThe suit alleged claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach \\nof fiduciary duty, and violations of the Texas Insurance Code and the \\nTexas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (DTPA).\\n\\nWooten alleged he did not discover the injury "and/or" misconduct that \\nforms the basis of this lawsuit until within two years of his filing the\\n lawsuit. The trial court granted Northwestern Mutual\'s traditional \\nmotion for summary judgment.\\n\\nSTATUTE OF LIMITATIONS\\n\\nWooten alleged causes of action with two- and four-year periods of \\nlimitation. The statute of limitations for Wooten\'s claims for negligent\\n misrepresentation and for violation of the Texas Insurance Code and the\\n DTPA is two years.\\n\\nThe court concluded that the appellees carried their summary judgment \\nburden of conclusively proving Wooten\'s claims for violations of the \\nInsurance Code and DTPA, negligent misrepresentation, and fraud accrued \\nat the time Wooten purchased each policy.\\n\\nMuch to the surprise of Mr. Wooten and most insureds,\\xa0 an insured has a \\nduty to read the policy, and failing to do so, is charged with knowledge\\n of the policy\'s terms and conditions. \\n\\nAppellees conclusively demonstrated Wooten purchased his last \\nNorthwestern Mutual policy in December 2005. The longest applicable \\nstatute of limitations for his claims on that policy-and all his \\npolicies-is four years.\\n\\nThe Discovery Rule\\n\\nEven in a breach of fiduciary duty case where a fiduciary\'s misconduct \\nis inherently undiscoverable, a breach of fiduciary duty claim accrues \\nwhen the claimant knows or in the exercise of ordinary diligence should \\nknow of the wrongful act and resulting injury. The Court of Appeals \\nconcluded that by 2005, at the latest, Wooten knew, or exercising \\nreasonable diligence, should have known of the facts giving rise to the \\ncause of action.\\n\\nAn insurance agent has no duty to explain policy terms to an insured. \\nInstead, an insured has a duty to read the policy, and failing to do so,\\n is charged with knowledge of the policy terms and conditions.\\n\\nTherefore, appellees carried their summary judgment burden to \\nconclusively prove Wooten\'s last claim accrued in December 2005 and to \\nnegate applicability of the common-law discovery rule to his common-law \\nclaims of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary \\nduty.\\n\\nZALMA OPINION\\n\\nAn insured has a duty to read a policy to confirm that it received the \\ncoverage the sales person represented. Although Wooten was neither dead or disabled, he sought damages against the insurer and sales persons \\nwhen, ten years late, he found the policies did not cover the events he \\nwas promised. He sat on his rights well past the running of every \\napplicable statute of limitations.\\n\\n(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.