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Stewart v. Southeastern Regional Medical Center3/20/2001
Appeal by plaintiffs from orders entered 4 August 1999 and 25 August 1999 by Judge Narley L. Cashwell in Cumberland County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 13 February 2001.
Plaintiff Herman Stewart was injured in an automobile accident in Robeson County, North Carolina, on 14 January 1995. He was taken from the scene of the accident to Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Robeson County, where he was evaluated by defendant Robert A. Barefoot, Jr., M.D., an emergency room physician, for a closed head injury . Mr. Stewart was subsequently transferred to Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Cumberland County, where he received medical treatment from various physicians, including defendants Thomas J. Meakem, M.D., Leroy Roberts, Jr., M.D., and Michel C. Pare, M.D. Mr. Stewart remained hospitalized at Cape Fear Valley Hospital until 4 June 1995, when he was transferred to a hospital near his home in New York State.
In January 1998, plaintiffs filed a motion in Robeson County Superior Court pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 9(j), seeking a 120-day extension of the applicable statute of limitations. The motion named numerous potential defendants located in both Robeson and Cumberland Counties, including defendants Dr. Pare, Carolina Neurosurgical Services, P.C., Dr. Meakem, Dr. Roberts, and Carolina Regional Radiology, P.A., all of whom were located in Cumberland County. The motion for extension of the applicable statute of limitations to 14 May 1998 was allowed by a resident superior court judge in Robeson County.
On 11 May 1998, plaintiffs filed their complaint in Robeson County Superior Court, alleging that defendants failed to properly assess and treat Mr. Stewart's spinal cord injuries, resulting in permanent physical disabilities and other injuries. The Cumberland County defendants (Dr. Pare, Dr. Meakem, Dr. Roberts, Carolina Neurosurgical Services, P.C., and Carolina Regional Radiology, P.A.) filed answers alleging, among other things, that plaintiffs' action was time-barred as to them and subject to dismissal. Upon a motion filed by defendant Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, the case was later transferred to Cumberland County Superior Court. Over thirteen months after the complaint was filed, the Cumberland County defendants filed motions to dismiss the action, contending that plaintiffs had failed to comply with N.C.R. Civ. P. 9(j) in obtaining an extension of the statute of limitations. The motions to dismiss were allowed by the trial court, and plaintiffs appealed.
Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in dismissing their complaint with prejudice for their alleged failure to comply with N.C.R. Civ. P. 9(j). We agree, and reverse the orders of dismissal.
The motions to dismiss filed by the Cumberland County defendants were based on the alleged failure of plaintiffs to comply with N.C.R. Civ. P. 9(j), which concerns, in part, extensions of the applicable statute of limitations in medical malpractice actions. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 9(j) (1999). Rule 9(j) provides in relevant part:
Upon motion by the complainant prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations, a resident judge of the superior court of the county in which the cause of action arose may allow a motion to extend the statute of limitations for a period not to exceed 120 days to file a complaint in a medical malpractice action in order to comply with this Rule, upon a determination that good cause exists for the granting of the motion and that the ends of justice would be served by an extension. Id.
Defendants argue that the extension obtained by plaintiffs in Robeson County was ineffective to extend the statute of limi
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