Barcia v. Louisiana Medical Malpractice Insurance Co.

67 So. 3d 659, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 1424, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 683, 2011 WL 2139894
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 25, 2011
DocketNo. 2010-CA-1424
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 67 So. 3d 659 (Barcia v. Louisiana Medical Malpractice Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barcia v. Louisiana Medical Malpractice Insurance Co., 67 So. 3d 659, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 1424, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 683, 2011 WL 2139894 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

CHARLES R. JONES, Judge.

liThe plaintiffs/appellants, Nancy and Angelo Barcia (the Barcias), seek review of a district court judgment sustaining the peremptory exception of prescription filed by the defendants/appellees, Dr. Argimiro Lago, M.D., and the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Insurance Company (LMMIC). After our review of the record on appeal, we affirm.

The underlying facts giving rise to the instant suit stems from the March 29, 2005, death of the seventeen year-old son of the Barcias, Chad Barcia, who was a patient of pediatrician, and named appel-lee, Dr. Lago. Chad Barcia suddenly collapsed and expired while playing rugby at school.

Dr. Lago had last seen Chad Barcia as a patient on March 26, 2005. Mrs. Barcia was present with Chad during this office visit on the same date. The Barcias argue that Dr. Lago should not have prescribed to their son the ADD (attention deficit disorder) drug Adderall (a drug classified as an amphetamine)1 because it [2was “allegedly contraindicated” since, as they claimed, their son had a cardiac condition, despite the fact that Chad had been on a similar ADD drug for many years preceding March 2005.

The first action filed by the Barcias was a Products Liability claim against Shire Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Ad-derall, in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans on March 21, 2006. The Barcias argued that the Products Liability claim was filed well within one year from the date of the death of Chad. About four and one-half (4½) months later, the Barcias filed a medical malpractice complaint with the Patient’s Compensation Fund (PCF), on August 9, 2006.

In response to the PCF complaint, Dr. Lago argued that the August 9, 2006, filing date was greater than one year from the March 29, 2005, date of the death of Chad [661]*661Barcia and was also greater than one year from the date the Barcias knew or should have known of a relationship between the prescription of Adderall to Chad and his subsequent death.

On November 6, 2006, the U.S. District Court issued an order staying the federal litigation pending the completion of the review by the medical review panel stemming from August 9, 2006 PCF claim against Dr. Lago. The U.S. District Court specifically mandated in its Order of Stay that the Barcias had leave to reopen the stayed lawsuit “within 30 days of receipt of the medical review panel opinion.”

lsTo date, the Barcias have never sought to reopen the Federal case, as was specified in the U.S. District Court order. Thus, at this time, the federal Products Liability case may have been abandoned.

Thereafter, a Petition for Subpoena Power was filed in the 24th Judicial District Court (24th JDC), under docket number 636-577, by Dr. Lago on September 22, 2006. Dr. Lago then filed an exception of prescription, which was subsequently opposed by the Barcias. After a hearing on the exception on November 28, 2006, the 24th JDC denied the Exception of Prescription. A timely writ application was filed in the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal under docket number 2006-974. On February 28, 2007, the Fifth Circuit denied the writ application, noting “[w]e find relator has an adequate remedy on appeal. We, therefore, decline to exercise our supervisory jurisdiction.” Writing separately in a concurrence, Judge Daley noted:

I agree with the majority’s decision to deny this writ application. At this stage of the proceeding, the Barcias have only filed a petition with the Patient’s Compensation Fund and the type of damages sought by the Barcias is unclear. In Taylor vs. Giddens, 618 So.2d 834 (La.1993), the Supreme Court held that in a medical malpractice lawsuit, the prescriptive period for a wrongful death action is controlled by C.C. Art. 3492, while the prescriptive period for a survival action is controlled by LSA-R.S. 9:5628.

On August 10, 2009, the Medical Review Panel issued its findings and concluding that Dr. Lago did not deviate from the standard of care in his treatment of Chad Barcia. The Barcias then filed a lawsuit in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans (CDC), on November 10, 2009. On May 18, 2010, Dr. Lago and LMMIC filed an exception of prescription to this lawsuit and a motion for summary judgment, therein arguing that the Barcias had not filed their lawsuit Lwithin the one-year prescriptive period, and as to the motion for summary judgment, that there were no genuine issues of material fact to preclude summary judgment. The Barcias filed oppositions to both the exception and the motion for summary judgment. The Bar-cias also attached an affidavit from a surgeon, Dr. William D. Zeichner, to their memorandum.2

On July 7, 2010, the district court rendered judgment granting the exception of prescription and offered written reasons which elicited that the Barcias had waited too long, after having more than sufficient information to reasonably believe they may have had a cause of action against Dr. Lago, to file their PCF complaint in August 2006. The district court also found that the Barcias had retained counsel well within the one year period after the death of Chad, as evidenced by the timely filing of the claim in federal court against the drug manufacturer. The district court [662]*662also noted that Mrs. Barcia was present with her son during the final office visits and was well aware that he was prescribed Adderall, even though he had complained of symptoms which she believed to be cardiac in nature. The district court further noted that Mrs. Barcia understood that Chad’s death was associated with the “effects of amphetamine.” The autopsy findings had concluded the same.

The Barcias filed a motion for new trial on July 23, 2010, arguing that “... it was Dr. Lago who prescribed the Adderall and that Chad died due to the Adderall....” They further argued that the doctrine of contra non valentón was misapplied by the district court in granting the exception of prescription. The Barcias also argued that since they received the medical records in February 2006, Land despite the personal first-hand knowledge of Mrs. Barcia in her affidavit of July 28, 2009, they argued that the medical records contained information proving their first reasonable knowledge of any cause of action they may have. The motion for new trial was denied by the district court on July 27, 2010. This timely appeal followed.

On appeal, the Barcias raise the following assignments of error:

1. At the hearing granting the exception of prescription, the district court erred by misconstruing or incorrectly applying the doctrine of contra non valentem;
2. The district court erred as to when the Barcias knew or should have known of the negligence of Dr. Lago;
3. The district court erred by not fixing a date prior to July, 2006 on which Mr. Salim and/or the plaintiffs knew or should have known of the negligence of Dr. Lago, nor finding a basis for such knowledge;
4. The district court erred in holding that the Barcias had actual or constructive knowledge of the alleged medical malpractice/negligence of Dr. Lago because the Barcias knew that Chad Barcia had taken Adderall that Dr. Lago prescribed;
5. The district court erred in holding that the Barcias had actual or constructive knowledge of the alleged medical malpractice/negligence of Dr.

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67 So. 3d 659, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 1424, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 683, 2011 WL 2139894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barcia-v-louisiana-medical-malpractice-insurance-co-lactapp-2011.