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MCKENNEY v. GREENE ACRES MANOR11/10/1994
ORDER
Upon motion of the Plaintiff for reconsideration, it is ORDERED that the motion be and hereby is GRANTED.
It is FURTHER ORDERED that opinion published on August 19, 1994 as Decision No. 6989 and reported in the Atlantic Reporter at 645 A.2d 1136 be withdrawn. It shall be replaced by the opinion attached hereto.
/s/ Robert W. Clifford
ROBERT W. CLIFFORD
Associate
Grace McKenney, personal representative of the Estate of Dana McKenney, appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Androscoggin County, Delahanty, C.J.) dismissing her complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. Because we agree with Grace McKenney's
The facts as alleged by McKenney are as follows. Dana McKenney died on July 22, 1990 at Greene Acres Manor, an "intermediate care" medical facility located in Greene. At the time of his death, McKenney was in the custody of the Maine Department of Corrections serving a ten-year sentence following his conviction of a criminal offense. Because he was in extremely poor health, having had both legs amputated and suffering from kidney failure, McKenney was on medical furlough from the Maine Correctional Center to Greene Acres Manor.
On the day before his death, McKenney complained to the Greene Acres staff of severe headaches and told them he was generally in great physical discomfort. The staff initially responded to McKenney's complaints, but apparently grew tired of dealing with him as the day wore on and began ignoring him altogether in the early morning hours of July 22. No one looked in on McKenney for more than eight hours, until Grace McKenney telephoned Greene Acres to ask about her husband's condition. It was at that time that the staff of Greene Acres discovered that McKenney had died.
Grace McKenney filed this suit in the Superior Court on behalf of her husband's estate on July 23, 1992 — two years and one day after her husband's death. Her complaint seeks damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (1994), alleging that Greene Acres acted under color of state law in violating Dana McKenney's right under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment.
Pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the Superior Court granted Greene Acres' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. The court held that the two-year limitations period in Maine's wrongful death statute, 18-A M.R.S.A. § 2-804(b) (Supp. 1993), was applicable, and therefore, that relief was barred because the suit was filed more than two years after Dana McKenney's death. Appeal by Grace McKenney followed.
I.
Although the Superior Court dismissed the complaint pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the parties submitted to the court, and the court appears to have considered, matters outside the pleadings. Accordingly, at least as to the statute of limitations issue, we treat the motion as one for a summary judgment pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 56. See M.R.Civ.P. 12(b), (c).
Congress has not specified a statute of limitations for section 1983 claims. Previously, an appropriate statute of limitations under state law applied by analogy to federal civil rights claims, as long as the limitations period was consistent with federal law and policy. See Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235, 239, 109 S.Ct. 573, 576, 102 L.Ed.2d 594 (1989); Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 266-67, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 1941-42, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985). The decisions in Wilson and Owens, however, have significantly circumscribed the analogizing process. As Justice O'Connor accurately noted in her dis
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