Hill v. Kwan

2009 ME 4, 962 A.2d 963, 2009 Me. LEXIS 2
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJanuary 13, 2009
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 2009 ME 4 (Hill v. Kwan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Kwan, 2009 ME 4, 962 A.2d 963, 2009 Me. LEXIS 2 (Me. 2009).

Opinion

ALEXANDER, J.

[¶ 1] Jean Hill, individually and as personal representative of the Estate of Kenneth Hill, appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court (York County, Brennan, J.) dismissing her complaint against Eddie S. Kwan, M.D. and Spectrum Medical Group, P.A. for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) and the Maine Health Security Act, 24 M.R.S. §§ 2501-2987 (2008). Hill argues that (1) the court erred in ruling that her amended complaint did not cure any jurisdictional defects present in her initial complaint, and (2) the Maine Health Security Act is unconstitutional to the extent that it bars her claims. Because we conclude that the Superior Court does have subject matter jurisdiction, we vacate the dismissal of the complaint and remand the case for further proceedings. We do not reach the constitutional issues.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] In February 2001, Kenneth Hill died after an interventional neuroradiological procedure performed by Dr. Eddie S. Kwan of Spectrum Medical Group. In January 2004, Jean Hill, Kenneth’s surviving spouse and personal representative of his Estate, filed a notice of claim of medical malpractice pursuant to the requirements of the Maine Health Security Act. 24 M.R.S. § 2853. The Act mandates that, after a notice of claim is filed, a prelitigation screening panel must hear cases of alleged medical malpractice before a complaint is filed in court. 24 M.R.S. § 2903(1).

[¶ 3] After the notice of claim was filed, the Chief Justice of the Superior Court appointed a panel chair. The panel chair issued a scheduling order, and the parties proceeded to discovery. The parties spent two years conducting discovery, which was finally complete in April 2006. They then notified the panel chair that they were ready for a hearing before a prelitigation screening panel.

[¶ 4] The panel chair experienced difficulty finding a radiologist without a conflict of interest and an available attorney to serve on the panel. By June 2007, fourteen months after the completion of discovery and more than three years after the filing of the notice of claim, there still had not been a panel hearing. At that point, Hill filed a complaint in the Superior Court, before participating in the mandatory prelitigation screening panel hearing, in violation of 24 M.R.S. § 2903(1)(B). The complaint asserted that Hill had been denied due process and had suffered other constitutional violations because of the delay between the close of discovery and the prelitigation hearing. She also alleged negligence, loss of consortium, and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sought punitive damages. Because the Superior Court could not hear Hill’s claim for medical malpractice until the prelitigation screening panel process was complete, Kwan and Spectrum filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1).

[¶ 5] Before the court held a hearing on the motion to dismiss, the prelitigation screening panel convened and issued a report in October 2007. The panel concluded that Kwan and Spectrum were not negligent. Hill then filed an amended complaint in the Superior Court in November 2007 to reflect that a prelitigation panel hearing had been held. Kwan and Spectrum addressed Hill’s amended pleading, arguing that if the court lacked juris[966]*966diction at the time the original complaint was filed, an amendment could not cure the jurisdictional defect.

[¶ 6] After the motion hearing, the Superior Court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the action because at the time Hill filed her complaint in June 2007, she had not completed the panel process as required pursuant to section 2903(1). The court granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice. Hill filed a motion to reconsider to determine whether the dismissal applied to both the original and amended complaints, and the court clarified that it did. Hill filed this appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

[¶ 7] The Maine Health Security Act requires plaintiffs to present their claims to a prelitigation screening panel before pursuing them in the Superior Court. 24 M.R.S. §§ 2851-2859, 2903(1)(B). Section 2903(1) states: “No action for professional negligence may be commenced until the plaintiff has: ... (B) Complied with the provisions of subchapter IV-A.” Subchapter 1V-A specifies the procedure for submitting a claim, creating a panel, and holding a hearing. 24 M.R.S. §§ 2851-2859. The purpose of this mandatory process is to identify and encourage settlement of meritorious professional negligence claims, discourage litigation of meritless claims, and schedule for trial only those claims in which a legitimate dispute over liability exists. 24 M.R.S. § 2851; Gafner v. Down E. Cmty. Hosp., 1999 ME 130, ¶ 27, 735 A.2d 969, 975.

[¶ 8] The only time a prelitigation screening panel is not mandatory is when all parties agree to bypass the panel process and proceed directly to court. 24 M.R.S. § 2853(5); Powers v. Planned Parenthood of N. New England, 677 A.2d 534, 537-38 (Me.1996). No such agreement existed in this case, and therefore Hill was barred from filing her medical malpractice complaint in court until the screening panel rendered a decision. The proper step for the court when a complaint is filed in violation of section 2903(1) is to dismiss the action. M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), (h)(3); Gutierrez v. Gutierrez, 2007 ME 59, ¶¶ 17-18, 921 A.2d 153,157-58.

[¶ 9] Whether subject matter jurisdiction exists is a question of law that we review de novo. R.C. Moore, Inc. v. Les-Care Kitchens, Inc., 2007 ME 138, ¶ 18, 931 A.2d 1081, 1085. Although the court lacked authority to consider Hill’s complaint at the time it was filed in June 2007, that premature filing did not prevent the court from reaching the merits of the amended complaint filed in November 2007, after the panel process was complete. Subject matter jurisdiction exists over Hill’s November 2007 complaint because (1) the rule that a final determination of subject matter jurisdiction is made at the time the initial complaint is filed, which is strictly applied in diversity cases in federal courts, is inapplicable here, and (2) Hill’s November 2007 complaint is a supplemental pleading that cured the defect existing at the time her original complaint was filed.

A. Time of Filing Rule

[¶ 10] Kwan and Spectrum argue that because subject matter jurisdiction was lacking at the time Hill filed her June 2007 complaint, the court had no authority to act on that complaint or a later amendment to that complaint. To support this argument, they rely on federal cases holding that challenges to subject matter jurisdiction premised on diversity jurisdiction depend on the facts as they existed at the time of filing, and that a plaintiff cannot cure a lack of subject matter jurisdiction that existed when the claim was filed. See, e.g., Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Global [967]*967Group, L.P., 541 U.S. 567, 570-71, 124 S.Ct. 1920, 158 L.Ed.2d 866 (2004).

[¶ 11] Federal courts rely on the time-of-fíling rule to curtail forum shopping and other strategic behavior by the parties. Connectu LLC v. Zuekerberg, 522 F.3d 82, 92 (1st Cir.2008); New Rock Asset Partners, L.P. v.

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Bluebook (online)
2009 ME 4, 962 A.2d 963, 2009 Me. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-kwan-me-2009.