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Christiana Hospital v. Fattori8/6/1998
Submitted: May 26, 1998
Consolidated
Appeal from Superior Court. REVERSED.
This is an interlocutory appeal from the Superior Court in a medical malpractice action. The Appellees/Plaintiffs-below, the wife, son and the Estate of Samuel Fattori, deceased (the "Fattoris"), asserted claims against various hospital and physician defendants (collectively, the "Defendants") arising out of the death of Samuel Fattori in 1993. The Defendants moved to dismiss the Fattoris' complaint on statute of limitations, grounds. The Superior Court denied the motion but certified an interlocutory appeal of its ruling that the Delaware savings statute, 10 Del. C. § 8118, is applicable to the two year limitations period for medical malpractice actions. We find the Fattoris' claims to be barred by the two year statute of limitations found in 18 Del. C. § 6856 and that the savings statute is inapplicable to medical malpractice actions. We, thus, reverse the ruling of the Superior Court.
I.
The facts in the matter are essentially undisputed. On February 10, 1993, Samuel Fattori died of complications allegedly related to the performance by the Defendants of arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder. The Fattoris initially filed their claim against the Defendants on February 2, 1995, in both the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed the claim for lack of diversity on December 6, 1995. On April 15, 1996, the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas dismissed the case for failure of the Fattoris to pursue their claim in that court.
The Fattoris then filed suit against Defendants in the Delaware Superior Court on December 6, 1996, alleging essentially the same claim asserted in their Pennsylvania actions. The Defendants filed motions to dismiss and/or motions for summary judgment on the ground that the Fattoris' claims were barred by the two-year statute of limitations under Delaware's medical care malpractice statute, 18 Del. C. § 6801 et seq. See 18 Del. C. § 6856. The Fattoris defended the motions on the ground that the Delaware savings statute for personal actions, 10 Del. C. § 8118, allowed a one-year extension from the dismissal of the Pennsylvania action for the refiling of their claims in Delaware. The Superior Court agreed with the Fattoris and denied the Defendants' motions, prompting these interlocutory appeals, which were consolidated for determination.
II.
The question in this case is one of statutory interpretation. This Court reviews statutory construction rulings de novo to determine whether the Superior Court erred as a matter of law in formulating or applying legal precepts. Grand Ventures, Inc. v. Whaley, Del. Supr., 632 A.2d 63, 66 (1993).
Prior to the enactment of the Medical Malpractice Act of 1976 ("the Act"), medical malpractice actions were governed by Chapter 81 of Title 10, pertaining to personal actions. The Delaware General Assembly adopted the Act in response to increasing costs of insurance coverage for health care providers and out of concern for the potentially open-ended period of limitations established in this Court's decision in Layton v. Allen, Del. Supr., 246 A.2d 794 (1968). Ewing v. Beck, Del. Supr., 520 A.2d 653, 658-59 (1987). Included in the Act was Section 6856 of Title 18, which reimposes a definite two-year statute of limitations upon medical malpractice actions with only two limited exceptions not at issue here. The Fattoris' Delaware action, filed three years after Samuel's death, would appear to be time barred under 18 Del. C. § 6856.
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