§6-5-753. Commencement of action.

(a) All actions against a manufacturer in tort, contract, or otherwise for death or injury to person or damage to property arising out of an accident shall be commenced within two years next after a cause of action accrues, and not thereafter. Causes of action for wrongful death accrue upon the death of the testator or intestate.

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), and except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), no action for death or injury to a person or damage to property arising out of an accident may be brought against a manufacturer if any of the following circumstances apply:

(1) The accident occurred after the applicable repose period beginning on either:

a. The date of delivery of the aircraft to its first purchaser or lessee, if delivered directly from the manufacturer.

b. The date of first delivery of the aircraft to a person engaged in the business of selling or leasing such aircraft.

(2) The accident occurred with respect to any new component, system, subassembly, or other part that replaced another component, system, subassembly, or other part originally in, or that was added to, the aircraft, and that is alleged to have been a proximate cause of an accident, after the applicable repose period beginning on the date of completion of the replacement or addition.

(c) If a cause of action accrues prior to the expiration of the repose period, an action may be brought within two years of accrual even though it extends beyond the repose period.

(d) Subsection (b) does not apply to any of the following circumstances:

(1) The claimant pleads with specificity the facts necessary to prove, and proves, that the manufacturer with respect to a type certificate or airworthiness certificate for, or obligations with respect to continuing airworthiness of, an aircraft or a component, system, subassembly, or other part of an aircraft knowingly misrepresented to the Federal Aviation Administration or other airworthiness authority, or concealed or withheld from the Federal Aviation Administration or other airworthiness authority, required information that is material and relevant to the performance or the maintenance or operation of such aircraft, or the component, system, subassembly, or other part, that is causally related to the harm that the claimant allegedly suffered.

(2) The person for whose injury or death the claim is being made was not aboard the aircraft at the time of the accident.

(3) An action is brought under a written warranty enforceable under law but for the operation of this section.

(Act 2013-73, p. 148, §4.)