Concealment Rule Law and Legal Definition
The concealment rule provides that when a defendant's wrongdoing has been concealed, or is of such character as to conceal itself, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the wrongdoing is discovered by the plaintiff. This is also known as the fraudulent concealment rule.
The fraudulent concealment rule postpones the statute of limitations only until the plaintiff knows or should know of her injury and its probable cause.[Gagnon v. G.D. Searle & Co., 889 F.2d 340 (1st Cir. N.H. 1989)]
The following is an example of a state statute ( Massachusetts) on Concealment Rule
In Massachusetts the fraudulent concealment rule is codified at ALM GL ch. 260, § 12. It reads as follows:
“ If a person liable to a personal action fraudulently conceals the cause of such action from the knowledge of the person entitled to bring it, the period prior to the discovery of his cause of action by the person so entitled shall be excluded in determining the time limited for the commencement of the action.”
