OSVALDO TAPIA-RUANO, ETC., APPELLANTS,
v.
LUIS O. ALVAREZ, M.D., AND LUIS O. ALVAREZ, M.D., P.A., APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 2002-06-19
No. 3D01-2324
Before GODERICH and SHEVIN, JJ„ and NESBITT, Senior Judge.
819 So. 2d 900 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2002)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

In this wrongful death appeal, the court affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit filed after Florida's four-year statute of repose expired. The plaintiff attempted to revive a medical malpractice claim against Dr. Alvarez by adding a wrongful death count, but both the notice of intent and amended complaint were filed after the repose deadline had passed.


Holding

The court held that the statute of repose expired on August 12, 2000, four years after the August 12, 1996 triggering event, and because both the notice of intent and amended complaint alleging wrongful death were filed after this date, the action was not timely commenced. The prior petition for automatic extension and notice of intent in the original malpractice action could not be used to relate back the wrongful death claim against the dismissed defendant.


Headnotes

[1] A wrongful death action is barred by the statute of repose if it is not commenced within the statutory period after the triggering event.

[2] The filing of a notice of intent to initiate litigation or a petition for an automatic extension of the statute of limitations in a medical malpractice action can commenc…

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Key Quotes

“a medical malpractice action commences, for purposes of the statute of repose, when the prospective claimant files for the automatic 90-day extension of the statute of limitations in order to comply with the requirement to conduct a reasonable investigation of possible medical malpractice, or when the prospective claimant serves a notice of intent to initiate litigation”

Establishes when a malpractice action is deemed commenced under the statute of repose

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Facts & Procedural History

On August 12, 1996, Dr. Luis O. Alvarez administered a contraindicated contrast dosage during a CT scan to Maria Gloria Estanillo, allegedly causing p…

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Opinion of the Court
NESBITT, Senior Judge.

NESBITT, Senior Judge.

Under appeal is an order dismissing plaintiffs’ wrongful death action as being barred by the statute of repose. We affirm.

According to Osvaldo Tapia-Ruano, the personal representative of the Estate of Maria Gloria Estanillo, on August 12,1996, Dr. Luis 0. Alvarez administered a contraindicated dosage of contrast to Maria Gloria Estanillo during a CT scan. As a result of the contrast, according to plaintiffs, Estanillo suffered permanent kidney damage and later died of complications. Before her death, Estanillo filed a malpractice action against Dr. Alvarez on January 29, 1999. The trial court granted the doctor’s motion to dismiss for failing to file a written corroborating affidavit within two years of the incident. We affirmed that order in Tapia-Ruano v. Alvarez, 765 So. 2d 942 (Fla. 3rd DCA 2000).

On September 12, 2000, Tapia served Dr. Alvarez with a notice of intent, purporting to commence a wrongful death action. Thereafter, on December 22, 2000, Tapia filed a second amended complaint in the medical malpractice action, seeking to bring the doctor back into the litigation by alleging a claim against him for wrongful death. In response, the doctor filed his motion to dismiss, arguing the statute of repose had expired on August 12, 2000, four years from the date of the triggering event.

In Musculoskeletal Institute Chartered v. Parham, 745 So. 2d 946, 948 (Fla.1999), the Supreme Court observed that a medical malpractice action commences, for purposes of the statute of repose, when the prospective claimant files for the automatic 90-day extension of the statute of limitations in order to comply with the requirement to conduct a reasonable investigation of possible medical malpractice, or when the prospective claimant serves a notice of intent to initiate litigation. Citing to Par-ham, Tapia maintains that his claim commenced, for purposes of the statute of repose, from the filing of the automatic 90 day extension of the statute of limitations in the medical malpractice action, on July 28, 1998, or from the service of a notice of intent in the medical malpractice action on September 3, 1998. However, because both the petition for automatic extension and the notice of intent went to the malpractice claim, Tapia could not “relate back” the instant wrongful death claim against the doctor, previously dismissed from the action.

Simply put, while actions could have been taken before the repose period had run, in the instant case, they were not. The statute of repose expired on August 12, 2000, four years after the August 12, 1996, triggering event. Both the notice of intent of September 12, 2000, and amended complaint alleging wrongful death, filed December 22, 2000, came after August 12, 2000. Thus the action was not commenced before the repose period had run.

Accordingly, the order under review is affirmed.


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