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O'Connor v. Wong1/28/2003
Plaintiff-Appellant Steven S. O'Connor (O'Connor) appeals from the August 2, 2001 Judgment entered by Judge Russell Blair in favor of Defendants-Appellees Norbert Wong, M.D. (Dr. Wong), The Emergency Group, Inc. (EGI), Michael Meagher, M.D. (Dr. Meagher), and Radiology Associates, Inc. (RAI) (collectively Defendants). The August 2, 2001 Judgment was based on summary judgment orders entered on January 26, 2001, and April 19, 2001. We affirm.
RELEVANT STATUTES
The Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) (1993) provide, in relevant part, as follows:
§657-7.3 Medical torts; limitation of actions; time. No action for injury . . . against a . . . physician or surgeon, . . . or a licensed hospital as the employer of any such person, based upon such person's alleged professional negligence, . . . shall be brought more than two years after the plaintiff discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury, . . . .
§671-12 Review by panel required; notice; presentation of claims; request for a more definite statement of the claim. (a) . . . ny person . . . claiming that a medical tort has been committed shall submit a statement of the claim to the medical claim conciliation panel before a suit based on the claim may be commenced in any court of this State. Claims shall be submitted to the medical claim conciliation panel in writing. The claimant shall set forth facts upon which the claim is based and shall include the names of all parties against whom the claim is or may be made who are then known to the claimant.
§671-16 Subsequent litigation; excluded evidence. The claimant may institute litigation based upon the claim in an appropriate court only after a party to a medical claim conciliation panel hearing rejects the decision of the panel, or after the eighteen-month period under section 671-18 has expired.
§671-18 Statute of limitations tolled. The filing of the claim with the medical claim conciliation panel shall toll any applicable statute of limitations, and any such statute of limitations shall remain tolled until sixty days after the date the decision of the panel is mailed or delivered to the parties; provided that in no case shall the applicable statute of limitations be tolled for more than eighteen months. If a decision by the medical claim conciliation panel is not reached within eighteen months, the statute of limitations shall resume running and the party filing the claim may commence a suit based on the claim in any appropriate court of this State. The panel shall notify in writing all parties of this provision.
POINT ON APPEAL
In essence, O'Connor's appeal challenges the following conclusion of law entered by Judge R. Mark Browning:
14. As such, the Court concludes [O'Connor's] claims against Defendants are time barred because he failed to submit his claims to the State of Hawaii Medical Claims Conciliation Panel within the time period imposed by HRS Section 657-7.3. [O'Connor's] claims against Defendants were not instituted until October 21, 1996, more than two (2) years from the date of their accrual, e.g., the date on which [O'Connor] knew or should have known of his claims against Defendants which, in this case, occurred on August 22, 1994, but certainly no later than August 30, 1994.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
The circuit court's grant or denial of summary judgment is reviewed de novo under the same right/wrong standard applied by the circuit court. Roxas v. Marcos, 89 Hawaii 91, 116, 969 P.2d 1209, 1234 (1998) (citation omitted); Amfac, Inc. v. Waikiki Beachcomber Investment Co., 74 Haw. 85, 104, 839 P.2d 10, 22 (1992) (cit
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