Tennessee Supreme Court Rules Medical Malpractice Plaintiffs Suit Was Timely Filed

By Thomas Greer | February 15, 2014

When recent reforms to Tennessee’s medical malpractice laws went into effect in 2009, there were many changes that took place. One of those changes was that a plaintiff must give a defendant at least sixty days’ notice of their intent to file a medical malpractice claim. When the new notice requirement went into effect, there were medical malpractice cases which were already pending. One of those pending cases was a medical malpractice lawsuit which had been filed on behalf of Juanita E. Good by her conservator, against Dr. Bhaskar Reddy and Maury Regional Hospital, for brain damage that Ms. Good sustained while she was having an operation to remove her gallbladder.

The conservator who filed the lawsuit, Doris Cannon, voluntarily dismissed her original action in 2010. In 2011, she gave the defendants notice that she intended to refile her suit against them. First, she refiled her suit two days after she had sent notice to the defendants. Later on, she filed the suit a third time, one hundred and eleven days after notice of her intent to file had been sent to the defendants. Dr. Reddy objected to the refiled suits, and moved to dismiss both of them.

The trial court consolidated the two cases, and Dr. Reddy filed an application for extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court of Tennessee, which agreed to hear the case. On January 29, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its opinion on the matter. In its ruling, the Court stated that Doris Cannon was considered a transitional plaintiff because of the timing of her lawsuit and the changes to the laws. As a transitional plaintiff, Doris Cannon had one hundred and twenty days to refile her lawsuit after she voluntarily dismissed her original lawsuit and complied with the sixty day notice requirement. The Supreme Court ruled that Doris Cannon’s third lawsuit was filed in a timely manner, and the case has been remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.

In this case, the strict filing and notice deadlines of Tennessee’s recently reformed medical malpractice laws threatened to keep one plaintiff’s case out of court. Fortunately, she and her attorneys took action to comply with the changes to the law when they took effect, and the Supreme Court acknowledged that her case had been filed properly, and within the applicable deadline. This case serves as a reminder of the importance of deadlines, especially under Tennessee’s medical malpractice laws.

Filing deadlines are of the utmost importance in any lawsuit. Recent changes to the Tennessee medical malpractice laws include strict filing deadlines and notice requirements which must be complied with. If you have been injured because of the negligence of a health care provider, it is essential that you consult with an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible after your injury. Time is of the essence, and the skilled medical malpractice attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC can help you to comply with all of the notice and filing requirements of Tennessee law. Our attorneys will evaluate your case, answer all of your questions, and sit down with you to help you decide how to proceed.  We believe that health care providers must be held responsible for injuries that they cause when they breach the standard of care that they owe to those who have come to them for assistance.  Please call us today, at 901-680-9777 to schedule a time to discuss your case with us.  At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.

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