Tassin v. City of Westwego

668 So. 2d 1247, 95 La.App. 5 Cir. 770, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 203, 1996 WL 34382
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 30, 1996
DocketNo. 95-CA-770
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 668 So. 2d 1247 (Tassin v. City of Westwego) 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
Tassin v. City of Westwego, 668 So. 2d 1247, 95 La.App. 5 Cir. 770, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 203, 1996 WL 34382 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

hWICKER, Judge.

This appeal arises from a petition for damages resulting from negligence and medical malpractice filed by Robert B. Tassin, Jr. (Tassin) as the legitimate son of the decedent, Robert B. Tassin, Sr. Named as defendants were: City of Westwego, West Jefferson Hospital, Westside Orthopaedic Clinic, Dr. Robert E. Fleming, Jr., and various insurance companies. Tassin alleged his father was involved in a motor vehicle accident on June 17, 1991 while driving a vehicle owned by the City of Westwego. He further alleged his father suffered injuries which were treated at West Jefferson Hospital by Dr. Fleming, who practices at Westside Orthopedic Clinic. Tassin alleges Dr. Fleming performed surgery on his father’s left arm on the date of the accident. He further alleges Dr. Fleming improperly set a plate which caused the radius of the bone to be one centimeter short. The shortness allegedly subsequently resulted in a bone marrow disease called myelodysplasia. He also alleges Dr. Fleming’s use of x-rays to the arm caused the disease to spread throughout his body. He alleges he did not discover the malpractice until the medical records were made available to him around April 16, 1994 and February 15,1994. Tassin filed his petition for damages in the district court on August 15, 1994; he filed it with the commissioner of insurance on August 12,1994.

Fleming and Westside Orthopaedic Clinic filed the following motion, “Motion for |2Summary Judgment and For Judgment on the Pleadings and Exception of Prescription.” On March 23, 1995, the trial judge dismissed with prejudice the City of Westwe-go pursuant to an agreement between the parties. On July 14, 1995, the trial judge ruled on the exception of prescription which was submitted on memos, and argued by the parties. He granted the exception as to Dr. Fleming and Westside Orthopaedic Clinic.1 The only remaining defendant in this action is West Jefferson Hospital, referred to by this defendant as “Hospital Service District No. 1 of Jefferson Parish, d/b/a West Jefferson Medical Center.” This party did not file an exception of prescription, nor was it present at the hearing on these motions.

Tassin now appeals specifying the following specifications of error:

1. The district court erred in granting defendants’ exception of prescription under the provisions of La.R.S. 9:5628;
2. The district court erred in granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment for prescription because of the third and fourth categories of the doctrine of contra non valentem;
3. The district court erred in granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment for prescription when the defendant concealed his wrong doing, which suspended prescription under the doctrine of contra non valentem, and
4. The district court erred in granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment for prescription because of the breach of duty violated by Dr. Fleming.

[1249]*1249Dr. Fleming and Westside Orthopaedic Clinic have answered the appeal as follows:

In the event that the judgment herein in favor of defendants is reversed or modified on appeal, appellees herein desire to answer the appeal pursuant to La.Code CivJP. art. 2133 by stating that in that event, and only in the event the judgment of the trial court is reversed or modified, that the appellate court has the authority to grant on its own initiative the Motion for Summary Judgment and/or the Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings since appel-lees herein assert that those alternative motions were also with merit and should have been granted at the trial court level as well.

We note at the outset that the judgment makes no mention of the motion for summary judgment or judgment on the pleadings. Instead, it refers only to the exception of prescription. Although all of the motions were before the trial judge, he only ruled on the exception of prescription. No ruling on the other matters was made by the trial judge.

laTassin filed this petition for damages on August 15, 1994.2 The act of negligence complained of occurred June 17, 1991. On this date, the date of the accident, the decedent had fractured his arm. Dr. Fleming performed surgery at West Jefferson Hospital by placing a pin in the arm. Tassin admits in pleadings that his father did not die as a result of the alleged negligence, but rather died of another subsequent accident on August 21,1993.

PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD

This action was filed less than one year after the death of Tassin’s father, but more than three years from the date of the alleged negligence. Tassin argues the proper provision setting forth the prescriptive period in this case is La.Civ.Code art. 23153 and not the malpractice provision contained in La.R.S. 9:5628.4 He asserts that 2315 allows him to file this action one year from the death of his father. However, this action is clearly a survival action and not a wrongful death action. Tassin is not claiming damages for his father’s death Uarising from malpractice. He is only claiming damages for his father’s injury as a result of malpractice.

In Taylor v. Giddens, 618 So.2d 834 (La. 1993) the Supreme Court distinguished a survival action from a wrongful death action. It [1250]*1250also addressed the issue of whether these actions, which were both based on medical malpractice, were controlled by La.R.S. 9:5628. The court held at 836:

LSA-R.S. 9:5628 provides the prescriptive period for survival actions but does not provide the prescriptive period for wrongful death actions ... The commencement and running of the prescriptive period for the wrongful death action is controlled by the one year liberative period applicable to delictual actions, LSA-C.C. art. 3492, and the action is available to the certain beneficiaries named in LSA-C.C. art. 2315.2 (formerly named in LSA-C.C. art. 2315).

The Taylor court distinguished the two actions at 840 as follows:

Although both actions arise from a common tort, survival and wrongful death actions are separate and distinct. Guidry v. Theriot, 377 So.2d 319 (La.1979). Each right arises at a different time and addresses itself to the recovery of damages for totally different injuries and losses. Id. The survival action comes into existence simultaneously with the existence of the tort and is transmitted to beneficiaries upon the victim’s death and permits recovery only for the damages suffered by the victim from the time of injury to the moment of death. Id. It is in the nature of a succession right. Comment, Wrongful Death: Prescription? Peremption? Confusion! 39 La.L.Rev. 1239, 1249 (1979). On the other hand, the wrongful death action does not arise until the victim dies and it compensates the beneficiaries for their own injuries which they suffer from the moment of the victim’s death and thereafter. Guidry v. Theriot, supra. Wrongful death damages compensate beneficiaries for their own injuries. 39 La. L.Rev. 1239, supra at 1249.

The rule adopted by Taylor relative to the prescriptive period for survival actions based on medical malpractice applies here.

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Bluebook (online)
668 So. 2d 1247, 95 La.App. 5 Cir. 770, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 203, 1996 WL 34382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tassin-v-city-of-westwego-lactapp-1996.