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Eisenmenger v. Ethicon3/24/1994
is tolled upon receipt by the director of the application for review and does not begin again until 30 days after the panel's final decision is entered in the permanent files of the panel and a copy is served upon the complainant and his attorney by certified mail.
(Enacted 17-1314 by Sec. 14, Ch. 449, L. 1977.) The 1985 amendment to § 27-6-702, MCA, added the following language to the first sentence of the statute:
as to all health care providers named in the application as parties to the panel proceeding and as to all other persons or entities named in the application as necessary or proper parties for any court action which might subsequently arise out of the same factual circumstances set forth in the application. [Emphasis added.]
The 1985 amendment to § 27-6-702, MCA, unquestionably created the ambiguity with which we are faced.
The title to the 1985 amending act and the explanation offered with the proposed amendment to § 27-6-702, MCA, are instructive. The title to the amending act stated:
AN ACT REVISING THE MONTANA MEDICAL LEGAL PANEL ACT BY CLARIFYING THE DEFINITIONS OF "HEALTH CARE FACILITY," "MALPRACTICE CLAIM," AND "PHYSICIAN;" CLARIFYING THE ALLOCATION OF ASSESSMENTS AND DETERMINATION OF ASSESSMENTS; PROVIDING FOR A LATE FEE FOR DELINQUENT ASSESSMENTS; CLARIFYING THE COMPOSITION OF THE PANEL; CLARIFYING THE TOLLING OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS AGAINST PARTIES NOT PARTIES TO THE CLAIM AND PROVIDING FOR DISMISSAL OF CLAIMS AND THE RUNNING OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS; AMENDING SECTIONS 27-6-103, 27-6-206, 27-6-301, 27-6-303, 27-6-401, AND 27-6-702, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. [Emphasis supplied.]
Ch. 332, L. 1985. The explanation offered by the Montana Medical Legal Panel for the proposed amendment was:
The current statute is unclear as to whether the statute does or does not toll as to those not parties to the panel, such as nurses, under circumstances where physicians in the same matter are brought before the panel. The proposed legislation clarifies this, providing for the tolling of the statute as to all those parties named in the application, whether proper health care providers before the panel or not. Exhibit D to minutes of House Judiciary Committee, February 19, 1985.
The legislative history of § 27-6-702, MCA, supports the conclusion that the tolling provision applies not only to malpractice claims, as argued by Ethicon, but also to actions against all other persons or entities named in the application as necessary or proper parties for any court action arising out of the same facts. This conclusion is further supported by the rule that an ambiguous statute of limitations should be interpreted, in the interest of justice, to allow the longer period in which to prosecute the action. See James v. Buck (1986), 111 Idaho 708, 727 P.2d 1136, 1138 (citing cases from Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona, and Utah). We note that Ethicon has long had notice of its alleged liability in this action, minimizing any surprise or prejudice to it from the interpretation we now give to § 27-6-702, MCA.
In this case, the application for review of claim which Eisenmenger filed with the Montana Medical Legal Panel listed Ethicon as an "other necessary and proper part ." We hold that the District Court did not err in ruling that the statute of limitations was tolled as against Ethicon.
ISSUE 2
Whether the court erred in denying Ethicon's motion for summary judgment.
This Court's standard of review of a ruling on a motion for summary judgment is the same as a district court's standard in ruling on such a motion: whether the rec
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