Hospital MD, LLC v. Larry

138 So. 3d 922, 2014 WL 2132842, 2014 Miss. LEXIS 257
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 22, 2014
DocketNo. 2012-IA-01661-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 138 So. 3d 922 (Hospital MD, LLC v. Larry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hospital MD, LLC v. Larry, 138 So. 3d 922, 2014 WL 2132842, 2014 Miss. LEXIS 257 (Mich. 2014).

Opinions

WALLER, Chief Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Rickesha Larry filed suit against Hospital M.D., LLC, and Hospital M.D. of Yazoo City, Inc. (collectively Hospital M.D.), among other defendants, in a medical-malpractice action. Hospital M.D. moved for summary judgment, arguing Larry had failed to provide it with notice pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 15-1-36(15); thus the sixty-day tolling period was not triggered and the statute of limitations had expired prior to Larry filing her initial complaint. The trial court denied Hospital M.D.’s motion for summary judgment and entered two orders. Hospital M.D. filed an interlocutory appeal with this Court, which was granted. See M.R.A.P. 5. This Court finds that the motion should have been granted, because Larry failed to send Hospital M.D. the statutorily required .pre-suit notice and subsequently filed her complaint outside the applicable statute of limitations. Further, the medical-malpractice-discovery rule did not serve to toll the two-year statute of limitations. Accordingly, we reverse the Yazoo County Circuit Court’s orders denying the motion for summary judgment and remand the case to the trial court to grant summary judgment in favor of Hospital M.D., [924]*924and to conduct further proceedings as to any remaining parties.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Larry began to experience complications from a flu vaccine she received at the University of Southern Mississippi. After returning home to Yazoo City, Larry was treated by Dr. David Johnson at the emergency room of King’s Daughters Hospital of Yazoo City (KDH) on December 1, 2009. Dr. Johnson was employed by Hospital M.D., which provided emergency-room physicians for KDH. Larry’s underlying medical-malpractice claim relates to Dr. Johnson’s treatment of her at KDH.

¶ 8. The asserted negligence occurred on December 1, 2009. Larry allegedly requested her medical records in April 2011 and again on June 2, 2011; however, the record does not indicate the exact date she received them. On October 8, 2011, Larry sent pre-suit notice letters to Dr. Johnson and KDH. December 1, 2011, marked two years from the date of the alleged negligence. On December 9, 2011, Larry’s counsel alleged they first learned of the existence of Hospital M.D. and that Dr. Johnson was not an employee of KDH in an email sent by a senior claims consultant for KDH’s insurer. The record also indicates that Hospital M.D. was named as an additional insured on Dr. Johnson’s insurance policy and appeared in the “cc” line of a letter sent by KDH’s insurance adjuster to Larry on October 12, 2011.

¶ 4. On January 3, 2012, Larry filed her initial complaint, naming KDH, Dr. Johnson, Hospital M.D. of Yazoo City, Hospital M.D., LLC, and John Does 1-5, as defendants. On March 13, 2012, Larry filed her first amended complaint to add the University of Southern Mississippi as a defendant.1 Hospital M.D. moved for summary judgment on May 23, 2012. Larry’s notice-of-claim letters were finally served on Hospital M.D. on June 5, 2012. A hearing was held on Hospital M.D.’s motion for summary judgment on September 18, 2012.

¶ 5. At the hearing, Hospital M.D. argued the motion should be granted because Larry failed to serve Hospital M.D. with pre-suit notice as required by Mississippi Code Section 15-1-36(15), and that subsequently, she filed her complaint after the two-year statute of limitations had run. Further, Hospital M.D. argued it was Larry’s duty to determine Dr. Johnson’s employment status and not the duty of any other party involved. In Hospital M.D.’s opinion, any order allowing Larry to amend her complaint would be futile because her initial complaint was filed without notice and after the limitations period.

¶ 6. Larry argued she performed her due diligence by acquiring her medical records from KDH, and those records made no mention of Hospital M.D. It was only after she had sent out her notice-of-claim letters to defendants known at that time and beyond the initial two-year statute of limitations had ostensibly run that she learned from KDH’s insurance company that Hospital M.D. was Dr. Johnson’s employer. In light of this, Larry argued the medical-malpractice discovery rule applied to toll the applicable statute of limitations until she learned of this relationship. Further, Larry argued the proper remedy was for the trial court to dismiss her amended complaint without prejudice and then allow her leave to file a second amended complaint to bring in Hospital M.D.

¶ 7. The trial court denied Hospital M.D.’s motion for summary judgment, finding Larry “put forth due diligence in ascertaining the status or relationship of [925]*925Hospital M.D. with the doctor, Dr. Johnson ... once they received sufficient notice that there was an additional defendant.” The trial court subsequently issued an order of dismissal without prejudice, noting this remedy follows the procedural guidance of this Court’s decision in Price v. Clark, 21 So.3d 509 (Miss.2009). The trial court also issued an order granting Larry leave to file a second amended complaint, finding the medical-malpractice-discovery rule applied to “toll the state of the statute of limitations as to Hospital M.D. Defendants until December 9, 2011, when the existence and involvement of the [sic] those Defendant’s was disclosed, see Stringer v. Trapp, 30 So.3d 339 (Miss. 2010).” Hospital M.D. appeals the denial of its motion for summary judgment and the trial court’s subsequent orders, raising two basic issues which are simplified and reorganized for the purposes of this opinion:

I. Whether the trial court erred by applying the medical-malpractice-discovery rule to toll the statute of limitations.
II. Whether the trial court erred in applying the procedural guidance of Price v. Clark, 21 So.3d 509 (Miss.2009).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 8. A trial court’s grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Johnson v. Pace, 122 So.3d 66, 68 (Miss.2013). The evidence in the motion is viewed- in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Davis v. Hoss, 869 So.2d 397, 401 (Miss.2004). Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether the trial court erred by applying the medical-malpractice-discovery rule to toll the statute of limitations.

¶ 9. When filing a complaint against a private healthcare provider for professional negligence, Mississippi Code Section 15-1-36(15) requires the defendant be given sixty days’ prior written notice of the intention to begin the action. Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-36(15) (Rev.2012). Negligence actions against a private medical provider like Hospital M.D. are governed by a two-year statute of limitations from the date of the alleged negligent act or when “with reasonable diligence might have been first known or discovered.” Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-36(2) (Rev.2012). This Court has stated that the medical-malpractice-discovery rule tolls the statute of limitations until the plaintiff “(1) has knowledge of the injury, (2) has knowledge of the cause of the injury, and (3)

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Bluebook (online)
138 So. 3d 922, 2014 WL 2132842, 2014 Miss. LEXIS 257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hospital-md-llc-v-larry-miss-2014.