Morris, Manning & Martin Victory Clarifies Time Limits for Malpractice Lawsuits
Verdict says statute of repose meter is running regardless
Atlanta (September 2005) – In a precedent-setting decision, the Georgia Supreme Court now says that the maximum time to file a medical malpractice lawsuit is firmly limited at five years and that other factors can not change that limit, upholding, in a rare move, a decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. “With this decision, the Court cleared up any uncertainty,” says a statement by James “Mac” Hunter and Jason P. Wright of Morris Manning & Martin LLP, counsel for the defendants. “The decision will go far toward ensuring that plaintiffs are vigilant in filing such complaints thereby increasing the efficiency of the judicial system.” The court delivered its verdict in dismissing the case of Simmons v. Sonyika. Attorney Sharon Simmons had asserted malpractice by two doctors, a nurse, and their medical facility, Southside Healthcare, in connection with the April 2000 death of cancer patient Trina Elliot. As administrator of Elliot’s estate, Simmons sued claiming that the defendants committed malpractice in June of 1997 by not telling Elliot about the results of tests performed at Southside. But the ultimate filing of the complaint before the U.S. District Court did not take place until March of 2003, almost six years after the lawsuit contended that the malpractice had happened. Defense attorneys Hunter and Wright moved that the case be dismissed, claiming that the time to file any such lawsuit had elapsed in June of 2002, under Georgia’s 1986 medical malpractice statute of ultimate repose and abrogation (SOR). That law spells out that no action for medical malpractice may be brought more than five years after any wrongful act is alleged to have occurred. The eventual filing took place following previous aborted actions before the District Court and before Fulton County Superior Court, as well as attempts at administrative remedies. Further, very importantly, the entire process began only after a period of 344 days from the time of Trina Elliot’s death to attorney Simmons’ appointment as administrator of her estate. It was Simmons contention that the period of almost a year during which the estate was unrepresented should not count towards the five year window under the statute of repose.
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MORRIS, MANNING & MARTIN, LLP October 7, 2005 Page 2
Georgia’s unrepresented estate law spells out that such periods do not count in calculating the two year deadline for suing under the states malpractice statute of limitations. Hunter and Wright contended, and the District Court, agreed, that unlike the statute of limitations, the statute of repose is not put on hold by the unrepresented estate law. Simmons appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which sent the case to the Georgia Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed with the District Court, saying that the SOR cannot be put on hold “for any reason” because that “would deprive the defendant of the certainty of the repose deadline and thereby defeat the purpose of a statute of repose.” Hunter and Wright applauded the verdict as a valuable clarification, saying “By its decision the GA Supreme Court upheld the policy reasons for which the medical malpractice SOR was enacted, and forever put to rest any notion that medical malpractice claims can be brought greater than five years after the alleged offending action occurs.” Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, (www.mmmlaw.com) is known nationwide for its practice in corporate finance, securities, litigation, technology, telecommunications, insurance, healthcare, environmental, and real estate law. The firm has offices in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Princeton. ### Media Contact for Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP: Terri Thornton, Thornton Communications, (404) 932-4347 territhornton@mindspring.com
Mac Medmal