Cart v. Ducote

490 So. 2d 731
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 17, 1986
Docket85-603
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 490 So. 2d 731 (Cart v. Ducote) 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
Cart v. Ducote, 490 So. 2d 731 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

490 So.2d 731 (1986)

Gloria Knott CART, widow of B.J. Cart, Jr., B.J. Cart III, and Julie Cart, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Lester L. DUCOTE, Jr., M.D., and Shiley, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 85-603.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 17, 1986.

Edwards, Stefanski and Barousse (Homer E. Barousse, Jr., Crowley, for plaintiff-appellant.

Henry B. Alsobrook, Jr. and Lisa M. Tompkins, New Orleans, Pugh and Boudreaux (Charles J. Boudreaux, Sr., Lafayette, for defendants-appellees.

Before GUIDRY, PICKETT and TUCK, Judges.[*]

*732 ROY B. TUCK, Jr., Judge Pro Tem.

This case arose out of the death of B.J. Cart, Jr. on October 31, 1979 at Lafayette General Hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana following surgery performed by Dr. Leslie Guidry for the replacement of an aortic valve.

Pursuant to a referral by his family physician in Crowley, Louisiana, Mr. Cart was examined by Dr. Lester L. Ducote, Jr. on October 10, 1979 and on October 18, 1979. As a result of his examination and the tests performed by him, Dr. Ducote diagnosed Mr. Cart's condition as calcific aortic stenosis and aortic insufficienty. He recommended surgery for replacement of the aortic valve.

On October 30, 1979 Mr. Cart checked into Lafayette General Hospital. The following morning, October 31, 1979, Dr. Leslie Guidry performed the surgery, replacing the aortic valve with a twenty-one (21) millimeter Bijork-Shiley flipping disc valve manufactured by Shiley, Inc. The valve replacement was completed around 11:00 o'clock A.M. on October 31, 1979. Mr. Cart began to have difficulty during the closing procedure and died at approximately 3:00 o'clock P.M., October 31, 1979.

Without having complied with the provisions of La.R.S. 40:1299.47B, which requires submission of a malpractice claim to a medical review panel before a court proceeding can be commenced, suit was filed against Dr. Ducote, Dr. Guidry and Lafayette General Hospital on October 16, 1980. An exception of prematurity was filed and the suit was dismissed on January 7, 1982. The claim was then submitted to a medical review panel which denied the claim on March 12, 1982.

The action sub judice was commenced by filing a petition on April 23, 1982 which named Dr. Lester L. Ducote, Jr. as the sole defendant. The plaintiffs-appellants filed a supplemental and amending petition on February 1, 1984 which named "Shiley Laboratories, Inc." as a defendant and added paragraphs 11 and 12 as follows:

11.
"Shiley Laboratories, Inc. is the manufacturer of the artificial valve implanted in the body of B.J. Cart, Jr., on October 31, 1979. The petitioners believe that the artificial valve bore the following serial number: Serial No. 21ABP 20098 Bijork-Shiley. The valve was purchased by Lafayette General Hospital at the request of the physician performing the surgery."
12.
"On or about October 31, 1979, the Bijork-Shiley aortic valve was implanted by Dr. Leslie Guidry. The valve failed to properly operate causing or contributing to the death of B.J. Cart, Jr. The valve manufactured by Shiley Laboratories, Inc., had certain defects which are presently unknown to petitioners."

Shiley's exception of prescription was sustained by the trial court on March 14, 1985 and the suit against Shiley was dismissed. This appeal followed.

The sole issue for our consideration is whether a cause of action for a death occurring on October 31, 1979 had prescribed on February 1, 1984.

The general rule is that when the plaintiff's petition shows on its face that the action is prescribed, the plaintiff who contends that there has been a suspension or interruption of the running of prescription, must allege and prove the facts establishing the interruption. Simmons v. Bartleet Chemical, Inc., 420 So.2d 1273 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1982); Percy v. State of Louisiana, Through E.A. Conway Memorial Hospital, 478 So.2d 570 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1985). On the face of the pleadings the instant matter appears to be untimely. The valve implant and the death occurred on October 31, 1979. The exceptor was *733 impleaded on February 1, 1984, some four years and three months later.

It is conceded by all parties hereto that the basic prescriptive period applicable to this case is one year. Actions for wrongful death are prescribed by one year. R.C.C. Article 2315. Under the provisions of former R.C.C. Articles 3536 and 3537 the prescriptive period for offenses or quasi-offenses was fixed at one year commencing on the date the damage was sustained. The enactment of R.C.C. Article 3492, replacing R.C.C. Article 3536 and the pertinent portions of R.C.C. Article 3537, made no change in the period. Article 3492 became effective January 1, 1984 and very succinctly provides that delictual actions "are subject to a liberative prescription of one year" and that such prescription "commences to run from the day injury or damage is sustained." Actions for medical malpractice, absent a special warranty or contract, are delictual. Percy v. E.A. Conway Memorial Hospital, supra; Sciacca v. Polizzi, 403 So.2d 728 (La.1981). Prior to 1975 all actions for damages for injury or death from medical malpractice were governed by the same liberative prescription articles which applied to other torts. By La.Acts, 1975, No. 808 § 1 the Legislature added La.R.S. 9:5628 providing the prescriptive period for medical malpractice actions. In Hebert v. Doctors Memorial Hospital, 486 So.2d. 717 (La.1986). Our Supreme Court said:

"Thus La. Revised Statute 9:5628 now governs the time for filing medical malpractice actions. In sum, it provides that suit must be brought within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of same. With respect to the latter (one year from date of discovery) the claim must be filed at the latest within a period of three years from the date of the alleged act, omission or neglect."

The Court goes on in Hebert, supra, to expressly hold that La.R.S. 9:5628 is a prescription statute rather than a peremption statute which, however, contains a qualification in that the contra non valentem type exception to prescription embodied in the discovery rule is made inapplicable after three years from the act, omission or neglect giving rise to the action. Thus, both the one year period and the three year period provided by La.R.S. 9:5628 may be interrupted but the three-year period is not interrupted by the fact that the injury was not discovered nor reasonably discoverable within the period.

In Crier v. Dr. S. Whitecloud, III, 486 So.2d. 713 (La.1986) decided by our Supreme Court on the same day, i.e., March 31, 1986, the court reiterated the proposition that La.R.S. 9:5628 is a prescriptive rather than a peremptive statute and the commencement or the running of the prescriptive period may be suspended. The Court points out that prescription in tort actions generally begins to run at the time the injury or damage occurs. With reference to La.R.S. 9:5628 the Court said:

"La.R.S. 9:5628 is a two-pronged statute. The first prong imposes a one-year limitation which begins either on the date of the act or omission or on the date of discovery of the act or omission. The second prong imposes a three-year limitation which begins on the date of the act or omission, regardless of the date of discovery of the injury.

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Bluebook (online)
490 So. 2d 731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cart-v-ducote-lactapp-1986.