Limitations Ran

In Allied World Nat’l Assurance Co. v. Nisus Corp., the Fifth Circuit addressed a  limitations issue in a products-liability dispute involving damage to fire-protection sprinkler systems. The court held that the claims were time-barred under Louisiana law, which, at the relevant time, imposed a one-year prescriptive period for products-liability actions, and considered “constructive knowledge” to trigger the running of prescription.

Here, the agent responsible for property maintenance had constructive knowledge of the cause of the damage well before the one-year period preceding the filing of the lawsuit, and that knowledge was imputed to the principal. The Court rejected arguments that the agent’s inaction or the defendant’s alleged misrepresentations tolled the prescriptive period, finding that a reasonable investigation would have uncovered the relevant information in time. No. 24-30386, Apr. 18, 2025.