Maersk Line, Ltd. v. Adatto

981 So. 2d 692
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 12, 2008
DocketNos. 2007-CA-1091 to 2007-CA-1093
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 981 So. 2d 692 (Maersk Line, Ltd. v. Adatto) 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
Maersk Line, Ltd. v. Adatto, 981 So. 2d 692 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

_JjIn this medical malpractice action, Michael L. Scardina, Jr. and Christine [693]*693Scardina Powell (“the plaintiffs”) appeal the trial court’s judgment granting an exception of prescription in favor of the defendant, Michael Adinolfi, M.D. (“Dr. Adinolfi”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS:

On 28 February 2000, the plaintiffs’ father, Michael L. Scardina (“Mr. Scardi-na”), was working as a seaman for Maersk Lines, Ltd. (“Maersk”) when he allegedly injured his back. As a result, Mr. Scardi-na filed a Jones Act claim in federal court. The federal court action was later dismissed.

Mr. Scardina treated with Dr. Kenneth Adatto (“Dr. Adatto”) for his back injuries. On 29 November 2000, back surgery was performed by Drs. Adinolfi and Adatto on Mr. Scardina. Following complications from the surgery, Mr. Scardina instituted a complaint with the Louisiana Patient’s Compensation Fund (“PCF”) against Drs. Adinolfi and Adatto on 27 November 2001. Maersk also filed a complaint with the PCF seeking contribution and/or indemnity for benefits it paid in connection with Mr. Scardina’s injury. Mr. Scardina dismissed Dr. Adatto from the medical malpractice complaint on 23 July 2002.

|20n 7 October 2004, following an adverse PCF panel decision, Mr. Scardina filed a medical malpractice suit against Dr. Adinolfi in district court. Maersk also filed suit against Drs. Adinolfi and Adatto in district court. The actions were consolidated with the previously filed petition for discovery in district court.

Mr. Scardina departed this life on 20 November 2004, and the plaintiffs, as his surviving heirs, filed an amended petition, substituting themselves as party plaintiffs. On 3 November 2005, the plaintiffs filed a petition to amend the suit to add a claim for wrongful death, alleging negligence on the part of Drs. Adinolfi and Adatto. The record reflects that the filing fee for the amendment was not paid until 10 January 2006. The record also reflects that the petition to amend for wrongful death was not served on the defendants, although the plaintiffs claim to have mailed the amended petition to the defense counsel of record. The plaintiffs also submit that the clerk of court was unable to confirm the filing of the amended petition due to hectic post-Katrina conditions. Out of an abundance of caution, the plaintiffs re-filed their petition to amend for wrongful death on 3 January 2006. As with the first filing, this pleading did not included service instructions, and was not served on the defendants.

In response to the amended petition for wrongful death, Dr. Adinolfi filed a motion to dismiss asserting the plaintiffs failed to (1) request service of process of the petition on Dr. Adinolfi for more than 90 days and (2) bring the wrongful death claim before a medical review panel pursuant to La. R.S. 40:1299.47(B)(l)(a)(i).1 On 11 October 2006, the trial court granted Dr. Adinolfi’s motion to dismiss based on prematurity. The judgment was later amended on 1 December 2006 to properly | sreflect the name of the plaintiffs’ counsel, which was inadvertently omitted from the original judgment. The trial court determined that Dr. Adinolfi was entitled to have the wrongful death claim heard before a medical review panel before commencing litigation in the trial court. The [694]*694plaintiffs did not appeal the judgment; and that judgment is now final.2

On 2 November 2006, the plaintiffs filed a wrongful death claim with the PCF. In response, Dr. Adinolfi filed an exception of prescription, arguing that the prematurely-filed petition for wrongful death was not filed within one year from the date of Mr. Scardina’s passing on 20 November 2004, and/or the complaint with the PCF was filed more than one year after the date of death.

On 18 June 2007, the trial court granted Dr. Adinolfi’s exception of prescription. This timely devolutive appeal followed.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

The plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in granting both the exception of prematurity and the exception or prescription in favor of Dr. Adinolfi.

As previously stated, the judgment granting the exception of prematurity, dated 11 October 2006, and amended on 1 December 2006, is a final judgment. No appeal therefrom was timely taken. See La. C.C.P. arts. 1841 and 1915. Accordingly, the only remaining issue before this Court is whether the plaintiffs’ wrongful death action has prescribed.

La. R.S. 9:5628 provides for the prescriptive period for medical malpractice actions, and states in pertinent part:

|4A. No action for damages for injury or death against any physician, ... whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of patient care shall be brought unless filed within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of the alleged act, omission, or neglect;....

Wrongful death actions are not within the scope of La. R.S. 9:5628. Rajnowski v. St. Patrick’s Hosp. of Lake Charles, 99-1817, p. 3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/7/00), 768 So.2d 88, 90. The prescriptive period for a wrongful death action is controlled by La. C.C. art. 3492, the one-year liberative period applicable to delictual actions. Taylor v. Giddens, 618 So.2d 834, 841 (La.1993). As explained in Taylor, although the applicable prescriptive period for wrongful death actions is the one-year period set forth in La. C.C. art. 3492, the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act continues to govern and procedurally control wrongful death actions. Id. Thus, a plaintiffs wrongful death claim arising from alleged medical malpractice must be filed within one of the date of death. Id.; see also Mitchell v. Rehabilitation Institute of New Orleans, Inc., 06-0910, (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/14/07), 953 So.2d 75. Moreover, the jurisprudence is clear that a premature medical malpractice suit does not interrupt or suspend prescription. Baham v. Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, 00-2022, p. 4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/11/01), 792 So.2d 85, 88, citing LeBreton v. Rabito, 97-2221 (La.7/8/98), 714 So.2d 1226.

In the present case, Mr. Scardina died on 20 November 2004. Consequently, his heirs had until 20 November 2005 to request a medical review panel for the wrongful death claim. The request for a medical review panel was not made until 2 November 2006.

IsThe plaintiffs argue that it was not necessary to file their wrongful death claim with a medical review panel because the first medical malpractice claim brought before the PCF by their father and the subsequent wrongful death action both stem from Mr. Scardina’s surgery of 29 [695]*695November 2000. Moreover, the plaintiffs assert that because Dr. Adinolfi was served with the original suit filed by Mr. Scardina, and his attorney of record was served with all subsequent pleadings, Dr. Adinolfi and his attorney, had personal knowledge of the pendency of all claims.

Dr. Adinolfi counters that the issues brought before the first- medical review panel, claiming malpractice in connection with Mr. Scardina’s back surgery, were totally separate and distinct from the issues raised in the plaintiffs’ amended petition for wrongful death. More specifically, Dr. Adinolfi points out that Mr. Scardina died from throat cancer; and the allegations made by the plaintiffs (that Mr.

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Related

In re Medical Review Panel Claim of Scott
206 So. 3d 1049 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)

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Bluebook (online)
981 So. 2d 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maersk-line-ltd-v-adatto-lactapp-2008.