Schauf v. Geo Grp., Corp.

439 P.3d 442
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 11, 2018
DocketCase Number: 116099
StatusPublished

This text of 439 P.3d 442 (Schauf v. Geo Grp., Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schauf v. Geo Grp., Corp., 439 P.3d 442 (Okla. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Larry Joplin, Judge:

¶ 1 Plaintiff/Appellant Michael Schauf, Guardian of the Person and Estate of Daniel Lee Boling, III (Plaintiff), seeks review of the trial court's order granting the motion to dismiss of Defendant/Appellee The GEO Group, a Florida corporation, d/b/a Lawton Correctional Facility (Defendant), in Plaintiff's action to recover for personal injuries sustained by Daniel Lee Boling, III, while he was incarcerated at the Lawton Correctional Facility. In this appeal, Plaintiff asserts the trial court erred in holding his claim was barred by the statute of limitations.

¶ 2 On or about July 3, 2015, Daniel Lee Boling, III, was severely beaten by his cell mate, Randy Glenn Mounce, while the two men were incarcerated at the Lawton Correctional Facility. According to Plaintiff, Daniel Lee Boling, III, has ever since been in a coma.

¶ 3 In December 2015, Plaintiff Michael Schauf was appointed as the Guardian of the Person and Estate of Daniel Lee Boling, III, his brother. On January 13, 2016, Plaintiff submitted to Defendant a notice of claim to comply with the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act (OGTCA), 51 O.S. §§ 151, et seq., § 157(A). See also , 57 O.S. § 566.4(B).1

¶ 4 To obtain an expert's affidavit of merit pursuant to 12 O.S. § 19.1(A)(1),2 Plaintiff served Defendant with a subpoena duces tecum to compel Defendant's production of records concerning the assault on Daniel Lee *444Boling. On March 1, 2016, Defendant refused to comply with Plaintiff's subpoena duces tecum as seeking proprietary and confidential information.

¶ 5 Later in March 2016, Defendant requested the production of documents concerning the assault from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. DOC produced the requested documents in June 2016. Plaintiff made additional requests for documents from DOC in August 2016 and October 2016, to which DOC responded in October 2016 and January 2017, respectively. According to Plaintiff, his expert issued a § 19.1 affidavit of merit March 9, 2017.

¶ 6 On June 29, 2016, Plaintiff filed his original petition to commence the instant action against Defendant Randy Mounce. On March 13, 2017, Plaintiff filed his amended petition adding additional parties, including Defendant, and asserted claims of negligence.

¶ 7 On April 6, 2017, Defendant filed its motion to dismiss. Defendant asserted that, in his amended petition, Plaintiff did not allege compliance with the notice-of-claim provisions of the OGTCA, rendering Plaintiff's petition subject to dismissal. Defendant further asserted that Plaintiff did not timely commence the instant action against it within one-hundred eighty (180) days of the date his claim was deemed denied on April 13, 2016, that is, not later than October 13, 2016, and, accordingly, the claim was barred. 51 O.S. §§ 157(A),3 (B).4

¶ 8 On April 21, 2017, Plaintiff filed his response.5 Plaintiff first asserted the claim was timely presented to Defendant within one year of the date of loss as required by 51 O.S. § 156(B),6 and set forth the date, time, place and circumstances of the claim as required by § 156(E).7 Plaintiff secondly asserted that the filing of the amendment to his original petition adding Defendant as a party, albeit more than one hundred eighty days after the deemed denial of his OGTCA claim, related back to the date of filing of his original petition, well within the 180-day period prescribed by §§ 157(A) and(B), inasmuch as Defendant knew or should have known of its potential liability when served with the OGTCA notice of claim January 13, 2016, and the action against Defendant was therefore timely filed. See 12 O.S. § 2015(C).8 Plaintiff *445thirdly argued that his failure to allege compliance with the OGTCA notice-of-claim provisions could be cured by amendment of the petition. Alternatively, Plaintiff asserted the 180-day filing period set forth in § 157(B) should be equitably tolled during the period Plaintiff was seeking adequate document discovery to obtain the affidavit of merit required by § 19.1, particularly considering Defendant's refusal to comply with his subpoena duces tecum and produce documents on March 1, 2016, and that, given the continuing disability of Daniel Lee Boling, Plaintiff timely filed the action well within the two-year limitation of 12 O.S. § 96.9

¶ 9 On May 8, 2017, Defendant filed a reply to Plaintiff's response. Defendant first argued the provisions of § 2015(C) did not apply because, when Plaintiff filed his original petition, there was no "mistake concerning the identity of the proper party" that should have been named as required for relation back by § 2015(C)(3). Defendant secondly argued that § 2015(C) does not apply where a plaintiff makes a "tactical" decision not to name a particular defendant and discovers, after passage of the 180-day period, the potential liability of the unnamed defendant. Pan v. Bane , 2006 OK 57, 141 P.3d 555. Defendant also argued that § 19.1 did not excuse the untimely filing of the amended petition because (1) whether Plaintiff's negligence claim required the support of an affidavit of merit was questionable, (2) § 19.1(B)(1) allowed an extension of time to obtain an affidavit of merit, and (3) Plaintiff was in possession of the documents he needed to obtain his affidavit of merit on October 6, 2016, prior to expiration of the 180-day period on or about October 13, 2016. Moreover, said Defendant, § 96 did not apply to extend the time for filing more than ninety (90) days after the date of loss. 51 O.S. § 156(E) ; Hall v. GEO Group , 2014 OK 22, 324 P.3d 399.

¶ 10 On May 17, 2017, upon consideration of the parties' filings and argument, the trial court granted Defendant's motion, and dismissed Plaintiff's claim against Defendant with prejudice.10 Plaintiff appeals and the matter stands submitted on the trial court record.11

¶ 11 " '[C]ompliance with the written notice of claim and denial of claim provisions in §§ 156 and 157 [of the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act] are prerequisites to the state's consent to be sued and to the exercise of judicial power to remedy the alleged tortious wrong by the government.' " Kennedy v. City of Talihina , 2011 OK CIV APP 108, ¶ 4, 265 P.3d 757, 759-760. (Citations omitted.) " '[J]udicial power is invoked by the timely filing of the governmental tort claims action pursuant to § 157, and ... expiration of the 180-day time period in § 157(B) operates to bar judicial enforcement of the claim against the government to which the Legislature waived sovereign immunity.' " Id .

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Related

Roth v. Mercy Health Center, Inc.
2011 OK 2 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2011)
Girdner v. Board of Commissioners
2009 OK CIV APP 94 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2009)
Tice v. Pennington
2001 OK CIV APP 95 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2001)
Pan v. Bane
2006 OK 57 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2006)
HALL v. THE GEO GROUP, INC
2014 OK 22 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2014)
Kennedy v. City of Talihina
2011 OK CIV APP 108 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
439 P.3d 442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schauf-v-geo-grp-corp-oklacivapp-2018.