Sangdahl v. Litton

69 F.R.D. 641, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 23, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16962
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 28, 1976
DocketNo. 74 Civ. 5034
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 69 F.R.D. 641 (Sangdahl v. Litton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sangdahl v. Litton, 69 F.R.D. 641, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 23, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16962 (S.D.N.Y. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

EDWARD WEINFELD, District Judge.

Plaintiff, a New York resident, commenced this action against defendant, a plastic surgeon and a resident of the District of Columbia, to recover damages upon claims of medical malpractice, breach of warranty and lack of informed consent. The action was instituted in the New York State Supreme Court but was removed to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C., section 1441. The defendant now moves to dismiss the action (1) for lack of in personam jurisdiction, and (2) upon the ground that it is barred by the applicable statute of limitations.

With respect to the jurisdictional contention, a threshold question of waiver exists. Heretofore the defendant moved, pursuant to 28 U.S.C., section 1404 (a) , for a change of venue to the District of Columbia, based upon alleged inconvenience to parties and witnesses. The defendant was then in a position to move to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for lack of in personam jurisdiction. He did not so move and his motion under section 1404(a) was denied. Rule 12(g) provides that “ [i] f a party makes a motion under this rule but omits therefrom any defense or objection then available to him which this rule permits to be raised by motion, he shall not thereafter make a motion based on the defense or objection so omitted . . .” (emphasis supplied).

While it is true that defendant’s motion for change of venue was made, and necessarily so, under the forum non conveniens statute, and not under Rule 12 (b) (3), the underlying facts to support a motion to change venue were essentially the same as the facts upon which he grounds his motion for lack of jurisdiediction over the person, and were apparent to defendant upon the very commencement of suit. His failure to move upon the latter ground constituted a [643]*643waiver and bars the present motion.1 In addition this court has previously held that “a motion under section 1404(a) of Title 28 presupposes initial proper jurisdiction ... in the transferor court ”2

Even were there no waiver of the jurisdictional claim, in personam jurisdiction was acquired over the defendant under New York State’s long arm statute. C.P.L.R. section 302(a) provides: “As to a cause of action arising from any of the acts enumerated in this section, a court may exercise personal jurisdiction over any nondomieiliary . . . who ... 1. transacts any business within the state . . . .” The defendant comes within this provision. He maintains an office, with a telephone listing, for the practice of his profession in New York City, is present from time to time in furtherance of his professional activities, is licensed to practice medicine in this state, and first was consulted professionally by plaintiff in his New York office. Under these circumstances, there can be no question that defendant transacted business here.

Although defendant argues that the cause of action did not “arise” from his New York activities, since the alleged negligently performed operation occurred in the District of Columbia, the physician-patient relationship first arose in New York, where plaintiff initially con-suited defendant. Further, the representations with respect to the proposed operation and the course of treatment upon which the action is based were made by defendant to plaintiff at his office in New York, and the operation was performed in Washington to meet defendant’s convenience. Thus, this is not a case where plaintiff “had [no] dealings at all” with the defendant in New York,3 or where the defendant’s in-state activities were “wholly unrelated” to plaintiff’s cause of action.4 Rather, the gravamen of the complaint is a breach of express representations made here, as well as the violation of a duty of care that arose in this state. While the New York cases offer little guidance on this point,5 the court is persuaded as a matter of “public policy and common sense” 6 that defendant’s transaction of business in New York was sufficiently related to the alleged wrongs to subject him to long-arm jurisdiction.

We next consider defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint upon the ground that it is barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The motion is deemed made under Rule 56, the summary judgment rule, and the parties have treated it as such.

Since plaintiff is a resident of New York, we consider the merits of the limitation defense under New York law.7 Plaintiff alleges four separate causes of action. The first is for negligence or [644]*644malpractice; the second for breach of an alleged express warranty to improve plaintiff’s physical appearance; the third, a separate claim for breach of an express warranty that the corrective surgery would not result in any visible scars; and the fourth for defendant’s failure to explain fully the possible effects of the surgery and its probability of success to plaintiff, who as a result was “unable to give an informed consent to the surgery.” Plaintiff alleges that, had she known of the possible results of the surgery, she would not have allowed defendant to operate on her.

Plaintiff was operated on on July 1, 1971 and received her last treatment from defendant on July 6, 1971. The action was commenced in New York State Supreme Court on March 4, 1974. Because of improper service, that action was dismissed on June 24, 1974, pursuant to an order entered that day by State Supreme Court Justice Sidney Asch. Thereafter a new action was instituted and defendant was served with a summons and complaint on November 8, 1974 by mail and personally under C.P. L.R. section 313, following which the action was removed to this court. Thus it appears that this action was commenced more than three years and five months after defendant’s final treatment of the plaintiff. The statute of limitations for malpractice is three years.8 Plaintiff seeks to toll the statute upon various contentions.

First, plaintiff contends that since the summons was delivered to the Sheriff of New York County for service upon defendant, and it appeared that the Sheriff unsuccessfully attempted to serve defendant, a sixty-day extension was effected under New York law.9 However, this extension is insufficient to save the tort claims, since the action was commenced three years and five months after the claims accrued.

Next, plaintiff presses that the statute was further tolled under C.P.L.R. section 207, which so provides where a defendant departs from the state and remains continuously absent for four months or more. However this does not save the day for plaintiff since the record does not establish that defendant departed from or was “continuously absent” from New York for four months or more. Additionally, plaintiff’s contention under section 207 fails because subdivision (3) thereof provides that the tolling provision does not apply “while jurisdiction over the person of the defendant can be obtained without personal delivery of the summons to him within the state.” This includes situations where service can be effected under C.P. L.R. section 313, which was the very method applied to serve defendant after the attempt at personal service in this state failed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 F.R.D. 641, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 23, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sangdahl-v-litton-nysd-1976.