CHARLOTTE J. CARTWRIGHT ET AL. v. DMC-MEMPHIS INC. D/B/A DELTA MEDICAL CENTER ET AL. - Articles

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CHARLOTTE J. CARTWRIGHT ET AL. v. DMC-MEMPHIS INC. D/B/A DELTA MEDICAL CENTER ET AL.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Dec 9, 2014

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1:

Duncan E. Ragsdale and William R. Bruce, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellants, Charlotte J. Cartwright, Next of Kin to Lawrence M. Cartwright, Deceased.

Attorneys 2:

Jonathan T. Martin and Joshua A. Hillis, Memphis,Tennessee, for the appellees, DMCMemphis, Inc., Bernadette Leach, Evelyn Cummings, and Debra P. Malina.

Jerry E. Mitchell, Andrea N. Malkin, and Samantha E. Bennett, for the appellees, Andrew M. Krauss, M.D., Nadeem Vaidya, M.D., and VRF Eye Specialty Group, PLLC.

Katherine M. Anderson and Hugh Francis, IV, for the appellee, Salwa Moustafa, M.D. Stephanie A. Bergmeyer and Laura Miller, for the appellee State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): GOLDIN

This appeal requires consideration of the interplay between the pre-suit notice requirements of Tennessee Code Annotated § 29-26-121 and Tennessee’s savings statute, Tennessee Code Annotated § 28-1-105. In the instant case, Plaintiff re-filed a medical malpractice action within one year of a previous voluntary non-suit. Defendants moved to dismiss the re-filed action on the basis that the pre-suit notice provided incident to the initial lawsuit was deficient. They argued that the failure to provide the required notice in the first lawsuit meant Plaintiff’s original action was not properly commenced and therefore failed to toll the statute of limitations. The trial court agreed, determined that the second lawsuit was filed outside of the applicable limitation period, and dismissed Plaintiff’s claims. We reverse.

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