Otero v. Zouhar

697 P.2d 493, 102 N.M. 493
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 10, 1984
Docket7414, 7455
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 697 P.2d 493 (Otero v. Zouhar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Otero v. Zouhar, 697 P.2d 493, 102 N.M. 493 (N.M. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

WOOD, Judge.

Zouhar is a physician, Layne is a nurse and the Corporation (Albuquerque Anesthesia Services, Ltd.) is asserted to be their employer. Plaintiff sued these defendants for medical malpractice allegedly occurring in the preparation and administration of an anesthetic. The date of the asserted malpractice was December 8, 1978. Plaintiffs complaint was filed in the district court on December 4,1981. The complaint was filed before any application was made to the medical review commission to review the malpractice claims. The three defendants sought dismissal of the complaint on the basis that the lawsuit was filed in violation of the Medical Malpractice Act. NMSA 1978, §§ 41-5-1 to 41-5-28 (Repl.Pamp. 1982). The specific claim was that the filing of the lawsuit violated Section 41-5-15(A). The trial court granted the motions of Layne and the Corporation; plaintiff appeals. The trial court denied Zouhar’s motion; we granted Zouhar’s application for an interlocutory appeal. We consolidated the appeals. The issues group into three categories: (1) applicability of Section 41-5-15(A); (2) constitutional claims not specifically involving Section 41-5-15(A); and (3). constitutional claims involving Section 41-5-15(A).

1. Applicability of Section 41-5-15(A)

This statute provides: “No malpractice action may be filed in any court against a qualifying health care provider before application is made to the medical review commission and its decision is rendered.”

Each of the three defendants is a qualified health care provider. See § 41-5-5. After the complaint was filed, applications were made to the commission and decisions were rendered. Our starting point is that plaintiff violated Section 41-5-15(A). See also § 41-5-14(D). Plaintiff argues that the statute should not be applied. His contentions, and our answers, follow.

(a) Concerning Section 41-5-15(A), Perez v. Brubaker, 99 N.M. 529, 660 P.2d 619 (Ct.App.1983) states: “The language of the statute is clear. The jurisdictional prerequisite is that there must be application made to the medical review commission and its decision on the application before the action can be filed in the trial court.” Saiz v. Barham, 100 N.M. 596, 673 P.2d 1329 (Ct.App.1983), referred to the statutory requirement as a “condition precedent.” Plaintiff’s argument is that we should overrule Perez. Plaintiff overlooks the fact that the statutory language is clear. As Saiz states in connection with other language in the Medical Malpractice Act: “Plaintiff asks us to disregard the statutory wording. We are to give effect to the statute as enacted. State v. Elliott, 89 N.M. 756, 557 P.2d 1105 (1977).”

(b) Plaintiff mailed an application to the commission on December 7, 1981, in connection with Zouhar. The record indicates the commission received this application on December 10, 1981. Plaintiff and Zouhar dispute whether the mailing was sufficient; Zouhar contends that no “application is made” until the application is received by the commission. Because the application was not received until December 10, 1981, Zouhar contends the three-year limitation period of Section 41-5-13 had expired before application was made. We need not resolve this issue. We assume, but do not decide, that the application mailed December 7, 1981, invoked the tolling provisions of Section 41-5-22. The only lawsuit against Zouhar is the one commenced by the complaint filed December 4, 1981. NMSA 1978, Civ.P.R. 3 (Repl.Pamp.1980). A commission panel rendered its decision by letter dated March 4, 1982. The tolling provisions of Section 41-5-22 and the three-year limitation provision of Section 41-5-13 expired sometime ago. To avoid the running of the limitation period, plaintiff must contend that the complaint filed December 4, 1981, was properly filed. Thus the applicability of Section 41-5-15(A) is not to be avoided on the basis of when the application was made.

(c) The trial court denied Zouhar’s motion to dismiss on the basis that filing the complaint on December 4, 1981, and mailing an application on December 7, 1981, was substantial compliance with Section 41-5-15(A). The trial court’s ruling was incorrect. The statute speaks in terms of “no action” in court prior to application to, and a decision by, the commission. This mandatory language indicates there is no room for “substantial compliance”; either there was compliance or there was not compliance. See Oda v. Elk Grove Union Grammar School District, 61 Cal.App.2d 551, 143 P.2d 490 (1943). However, even if there could be “substantial compliance” with the statute, there was no substantial compliance in this case. “Substantial compliance” with a statute occurs when the statute has been followed sufficiently so as to carry out the intent of the statute. Vaughn v. United Nuclear Corp., 98 N.M. 481, 650 P.2d 3 (Ct.App.1982); cf. State ex rel. Sun Company, Inc. v. Vigil, 74 N.M. 766, 398 P.2d 987 (1965). The filing of a complaint before application to the commission, and before any decision by the commission, was not substantial compliance with Section 41-5-15(A).

(d)(1) Plaintiff applied for commission review, in connection with Layne and the Corporation, in early March 1982. This was more than three years from the date of the alleged malpractice. However, the complaint, filed December 4, 1981, was within the three-year period. Thus the propriety of dismissing the complaint against Layne and the Corporation also depends on the applicability of Section 41-5-15(A). Plaintiff asserts that this statute does not apply as to these two defendants because at the time the complaint was filed plaintiff’s information, incorrect, was that Layne and the Corporation were not qualified health care providers. It is not disputed that this misinformation was supplied to an employee of plaintiff’s attorney by an employee of the Department of Insurance a “few days prior to December 4, 1981 * Plaintiff refers us to deposition testimony indicating the records of the Department of Insurance were incomplete as to these two defendants. Asserting that the Department of Insurance was the only source of the information sought, plaintiff’s position is that he did all he could do to determine whether these two defendants were qualified health care providers and, thus, Section 41-5-15(A) should not be applied and his complaint should not have been dismissed.

(2) Plaintiff contends the misinformation supplied by the Department of Insurance should excuse his noncompliance with Section 41-5-15(A). In- the trial court plaintiff argued estoppel, but omits this argument on appeal, presumably because there is nothing indicating the two defendants were in any way responsible for the misinformation. See Bowlin’s, Inc. v. Ramsey Oil Co., Inc., 99 N.M. 660, 662 P.2d 661 (Ct.App.1983); McDonald v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 93 N.M. 192, 598 P.2d 654 (Ct.App.1979). New Mexico recognizes an excuse for violation of a statute or ordinance in circumstances where the violation would be negligence per se. See Hayes v. Hagemeier, 75 N.M. 70, 400 P.2d 945 (1963); Jackson v. Southwestern Public Service Co., 66 N.M.

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Bluebook (online)
697 P.2d 493, 102 N.M. 493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/otero-v-zouhar-nmctapp-1984.