Ray v. Scheibert

484 S.W.2d 63, 1972 Tenn. App. LEXIS 345
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 25, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 484 S.W.2d 63 (Ray v. Scheibert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ray v. Scheibert, 484 S.W.2d 63, 1972 Tenn. App. LEXIS 345 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

PURYEAR, Judge.

This is a suit for damages arising out of a surgical procedure performed by the defendant, Doctor David C. Scheibert, on the plaintiff, Hayden Ray, on August 11, 1965.

In his declaration plaintiff averred that he was in a good state of health until the latter part of 1964, when he began to notice a tingling and numbness in his lower back and extremities and this caused him to consult the defendant on or about July 22, 1965, as a result of which the defendant performed various tests and the defendant advised surgery for the purpose of relieving pressure on the spinal cord resulting from an arthritic spur which had been discovered in the tests.

It is further averred in the declaration that on August 11, 1965, defendant performed surgery on plaintiff, as a result of which plaintiff suffered paralysis in his upper and lower extremities, and in the urinary tract and the lower intestinal tract; that he was and is permanently injured, for which injuries he sues the defendant for $250,000.00 damages.

The suit was filed on January 15, 1968, which was more than two years after the surgery was performed.

In said declaration plaintiff avers that defendant did not advise him of the risks involved in such surgery and therefore, the plaintiff never effectively consented to it as such because he was not advised of its serious nature, extent and of the attendant dangers therein.

*65 The original declaration contains the following averment:

“Subsequent to the operation, plaintiff avers that Dr. Scheibert concealed from him the true nature of his injury and therefore any cause of action based upon that injury by erroneously informing him during the entire time he was under Dr. Scheibert’s care that his difficulties resulted from the contraction with his muscular back.” (Tech.Rec. p. 5)

To this original declaration the defendant filed a demurrer in which it is averred that the action is based upon an alleged battery committed upon the plaintiff by defendant because of plaintiff’s alleged failure to consent to the operation and on its face the declaration shows that the plaintiff’s cause of action is barred by the statute of limitations of one year applicable to suits for personal injuries. (T.C.A. § 28-304).

This demurrer was heard by the trial Court on October 11, 1968, as a result of which hearing the trial Court entered the following order:

“This cause came on to be heard before the Honorable John L. Uhlian, Jr., Circuit Judge, on Friday, October 11, 1968, upon the demurrer of the defendant heretofore filed to the declaration in this cause and upon motion of the plaintiff to dispose of said demurrer. After hearing argument of counsel, the Court is of the opinion that said demurrer is well taken and should be sustained. It is accordingly
ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED by the Court that the demurrer heretofore filed by the defendant be and the same hereby is sustained. The plaintiff will be and he is hereby allowed thirty days within which to amend his declaration, failing which the suit will stand dismissed at the cost of plaintiff.” (Tech.Rec. p. 10)

On November 8, 1968, plaintiff filed the following amendment to his declaration:

“The professional relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant continued uninterrupted from July 1965 until February 1967. Following the surgery herein described, plaintiff inquired repeatedly of the defendant as to the cause of his persistent and severe disability, and each time was assured by the defendant that his difficulty was caused by the muscular condition of his back, a condition which the plaintiff believed would correct itself when his muscles became relaxed with reduced activity and the passage of time, and which he believed was not a serious or permanent condition. Plaintiff believes and therefore alleges that the defendant made such representations recklessly without a medical basis for making the same. Such representations were untrue, however the same were relied upon by the plaintiff who did not know them to be untrue and who was unaware of the true nature of his serious injury until after February 1967 when he terminated the professional relationship between himself and the defendant and was admitted to Mayo Clinic in July 1967, as hereinafter described.” (Tech.Rec. p. 11)

Thereafter, the defendant filed another demurrer to the declaration as amended also upon the grounds that the declaration showed upon its face that the plaintiff’s cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations of one year.

This second demurrer was sustained by the trial Court on February 28, 1969, from which order sustaining said demurrer, plaintiff appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court reversed the trial Court’s action in sustaining the demurrer to the declaration as amended and remanded the case to the trial Court. Ray v. Scheibert (1969), 224 Tenn. 99, 450 S.W.2d 578.

The defendant then pled the general issue and for further plea relied upon the statute of limitations of one year and denied the allegations of fraudulent concealment.

*66 In its opinion, supra, the Supreme Court quoted certain portions of the declaration as amended and said:

“We are of opinion that the foregoing excerpts from the declaration adequately charge fraudulent concealment. Mr. Justice Chambliss speaking for the Court in Hudson v. Shoulders, 164 Tenn. 70, 45 S.W.2d 1072 (1931), said that in order for the statute of limitations to be tolled by a fraudulent concealment there must be an allegation that the cause of action was known to the defendant and fraudulently concealed by him and that the running of the statute would not be prevented by mere ignorance of the plaintiff and his failure to discover the existence of the cause of action within the statutory limitation would not prevent its running and that if the plaintiff either knew or neglectfully failed to discover the cause of action the statute would not be tolled. In this case, however, the plaintiff relied on the professional competence and advice of the defendant with respect to the cause and nature of his condition — a condition about which he as a non-medical person could expect to know nothing and about which he had the right to depend on the defendant for advice and for a full disclosure of the facts. The allegations charged the defendant with fraudulent concealment of the plaintiff’s cause of action which, if proved, will toll the statute. The implication is that the defendant had actual knowledge of this commission of the tort.
‘It is not necessary that facts charged in a bill as constituting fraud should be so characterized. It is enough if the allegations state facts which constitute fraud; * * Shepherd v. Shepherd, 59 Tenn. 275, 281, 12 Heisk. 275 (1873).
We sustain so much of the assignment of error as relates to fraudulent concealment and reverse and remand the case.” (Supra, 450 S.W.2d pp.

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Bluebook (online)
484 S.W.2d 63, 1972 Tenn. App. LEXIS 345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ray-v-scheibert-tennctapp-1972.