Blaz v. Michael Reese Hospital Foundation

191 F.R.D. 570, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19829, 1999 WL 1269189
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided December 22, 1999·No. No. 96 C 0091·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BUCKLO, District Judge.

Joel Blaz, now a citizen of Florida, was one among about 5,000 patients at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center (“Michael Reese”) in Chicago, Illinois, who were treated with X-ray therapy for some benign conditions of the head and neck from 1930 to 1960. Mr. Blaz received this treatment while a child in 1947 — 18. He has suffered various tumors that he now attributes to this treatment. In 1996, he sued Michael Reese and its successor, Galen Hospital, which acquired Michael Reese in 1991, and Dr. Arthur Schneider, the physician who headed Michael Reese’s follow-up project that investigated the effect of the treatments. Mr. Blaz alleges that (1) the defendants negligently exposed him to harmful radiation or (2) tor-tiously failed to warn him of risks associated with the radiation therapy, committing fraud and fraudulent concealment in the process. I here consider the defendants’ motions: (1) to dismiss Mr. Blaz’s amended complaint based on failure to relate back, (2) for summary judgment based on charitable immunity, and (3) to strike or dismiss allegations of fraud and fraudulent concealment, and deny them all.

I.

In a diversity ease, I apply state substantive and federal procedural law. Dawn Equip. Co. v. Micro-Trak Sys., Inc., 186 F.3d 981, 986 (7th Cir.1999) (citing Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 [572]*572L.Ed. 1188 (1988)).1 In a motion to dismiss under either Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) or Rule 12(e), I accept the well-pleaded allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Gastineau v. Fleet Mortgage Corp., 137 F.3d 490, 493 (7th Cir.1998). Such motions “should not be granted unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff cannot prove any facts that would support his claim for relief.” Hentosh v. Herman M. Finch Univ. of Health Sciences/The Chicago Med. School, 167 F.3d 1170, 1173 (7th Cir.1999) (citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)).

The defendants move to dismiss Mr. Blaz’s amended complaint because it fails to relate back to his original filings, and therefore falls outside the limitations period Mr. Blaz himself concedes is applicable.2 For reasons that are unclear to me, the defendants argue in terms of a state rule of civil procedure governing the relation back of an amendment to a complaint.3 This is puzzling because, as I have already stated, it has been established for over 60 years that, in federal court, one uses federal procedure. The parties are, needless to say, in federal court, and there is a federal rule on point governing the relation back of amendments to pleadings — Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(c).

When there is a federal rule on point, it governs if it is constitutional and properly enacted by Congress under 28 U.S.C. § 2072, the Rules Enabling Act. Mace v. Van Ru Credit Corp., 109 F.3d 338, 346 (7th Cir.1997) (citing Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 463, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965)); see also Burlington Northern R.R. v. Woods, 480 U.S. 1, 5, 107 S.Ct. 967, 94 L.Ed.2d 1 (1987) (reaffirming the Hanna principle). There can be no real doubt that Rule 15(c) is constitutional and that Congress properly enacted it. See Brown v. E.W. Bliss Co., 818 F.2d 1405, 1409 (8th Cir.1987); Johansen v. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., 810 F.2d 1377, 1380 (5th Cir.1987). If, per impossible, there were some problem with Rule 15(c), the defendants did not raise it and so waive any challenge to the applicability of the federal rules. Giotis v. Apollo of the Ozarks, 800 F.2d 660, 664 (7th Cir.1986) (argument not raised is waived). The state procedural rules are simply inapplicable. Because the defendants rest their argument solely upon the state rules and offer no pertinent discussion based upon the federal rule that in fact governs, the defendants have waived their argument for the motion to dismiss for failure to relate back. See United States v. Watson, 189 F.3d 496, 500 (7th Cir.1999) (Arguments not adequately developed or supported are waived.).

Although I am obliged “to consider only those arguments presented to [me],” Momient-El v. DeTella, 118 F.3d 535, 540 (7th Cir.1997), if I were to analyze the motion under Rule 15(c), I would have to deny it. It is black letter law in the Seventh Circuit, not quite so old as the Erie rule, but fairly hoary nonetheless, that “an amendment changing a party’s name will relate back where the party intended to be served, though misdescribed, was actually the party served.” Simmons v. Fenton, 480 F.2d 133, 137 (7th Cir.1973). The Seventh Circuit there commented that while in Illinois the “statutes of limitations are frequently geared to the filing of a complaint----Rule 15(c) is geared to notice. The party to be substituted must receive notice of the action “within the period provided by law for commencing the action against him.’” Id. (internal citation omitted). That is the case here. Whatever name it went under, Michael Reese was on notice. The motion to dismiss is denied.

[573]*573II.

Michael Reese moves for summary judgment on the grounds that it is entitled to absolute charitable immunity from suit for acts of its employees occurring prior to 1950. This would affect Mr. Blaz’s Counts I (medical malpractice), II (lack of informed consent), III (negligence), and VII (loss of consortium), all based factually on Mr. Blaz’s radiation treatments, which took place in 1947 and 1948. .Summary judgment is to be granted when there is no material issue of fact in dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); Liu v. T & H Machine Inc., 191 F.3d 790, 794 (7th Cir.1999).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Blaz v. Michael Reese Hospital Foundation, 191 F.R.D. 570, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19829, 1999 WL 1269189 (N.D. Ill. 1999).

191 F.R.D. 570 (Blaz v. Michael Reese Hospital Foundation) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

AAR International, Inc. v. Vacances Heliades S.A.
202 F. Supp. 2d 788 (N.D. Illinois, 2002)
Mid-Am Builders, Inc. v. Federated Mutual Insurance
194 F. Supp. 2d 822 (C.D. Illinois, 2002)
Isbell v. Ryan
200 F. Supp. 2d 957 (C.D. Illinois, 2002)