## Facts

- Margaret Housen and “Pony” Duke began a sexual relationship in April 1970.
- During a multi-state trip and later encounters, they had sexual intercourse in several states; the last act of intercourse occurred in New York.
- The morning after the final encounter, Duke disclosed for the first time that he had gonorrhea and was undergoing treatment.
- Within two days, Housen’s physician informed her that she had contracted gonorrhea.
- In 1973, Housen developed abdominal pain; exploratory surgery in July 1973 revealed abdominal adhesions attributed to the earlier infection, with likely continuing pain and impaired fertility.
- Housen alleged Duke negligently and recklessly exposed her to gonorrhea, knowing or strongly suspecting he was infected, and failed to warn or take precautions.
- Housen filed the present negligence and gross-negligence action in Wyoming on April 19, 1974, seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
- A Wyoming jury awarded $300,000 compensatory damages and $1,000,000 punitive damages; the trial court entered judgment and rejected Duke’s statute-of-limitations defense.

## Issues

1. Under Wyoming’s borrowing statute, whether the applicable statute of limitations was Wyoming’s or the limitations period of the state where the cause of action arose.
2. For limitations purposes, whether the cause of action accrued when Housen learned she had gonorrhea in April 1970 or when later adhesions were discovered in 1973.
3. Whether the 1974 filing was time-barred, requiring reversal of the judgment.

## Decision

- The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the judgment for Housen and held the action barred by the statute of limitations.
- The court determined the cause of action arose in New York because the final act completing the alleged tort occurred there.
- Applying the borrowing statute, the court used New York’s three-year limitations period.
- The court held accrual occurred when Housen first knew of the actionable injury—when she was informed she had gonorrhea in April 1970.
- Later-discovered adhesions were treated as consequential damages that did not restart or delay the limitations period.
- Because the suit was filed more than three years after accrual, the claim was untimely and the jury verdict could not stand.

## Legal Principles

- Under a borrowing statute, the forum may apply the statute of limitations of the jurisdiction where the cause of action arose, rather than the forum’s limitations period.
- In tort, a cause of action accrues when the plaintiff sustains the first actionable injury and knows or reasonably should know of that injury.
- The limitations period is not postponed until the full extent of harm is known; later, more serious consequences are treated as damages flowing from the original injury, not a new accrual event.
- Statutes of limitations serve to bar stale claims and protect defendants from defending after evidence becomes unavailable or unreliable.

## Conclusion

The court set aside a large jury award by applying Wyoming’s borrowing statute to use New York’s three-year limitations period and by holding that the claim accrued when the plaintiff first learned of the infection, not when later complications were discovered.


Duke v. Housen, 589 P.2d 334 (Wyo. 1979)