Snyder v. Pascack Valley Hospital

• Decision Date: 22 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-4102.,01-4102.
• Citation: 303 F.3d 271
• Parties: Theresa SNYDER, Administratrix of the Estate of Stanley Snyder, Deceased; Theresa Snyder, in her own right, v. PASCACK VALLEY HOSPITAL; Directcare Medical Services, L.L.C.; Mardik Donikyan, M.D.; Clyde A. Hershan, M.D. Theresa Snyder, Administratrix of the Estate of Stanley Snyder, Deceased; Theresa Snyder, in her own right, v. Pascack Emergency Services, P.A. Theresa Snyder, Administratrix of the Estate of Stanley Snyder, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

303 F.3d 271

Theresa SNYDER, Administratrix of the Estate of Stanley Snyder, Deceased; Theresa Snyder, in her own right, v. PASCACK VALLEY HOSPITAL; Directcare Medical Services, L.L.C.; Mardik Donikyan, M.D.; Clyde A. Hershan, M.D.

Theresa Snyder, Administratrix of the Estate of Stanley Snyder, Deceased; Theresa Snyder, in her own right, v. Pascack Emergency Services, P.A.

Theresa Snyder, Administratrix of the Estate of Stanley Snyder, Appellant.

No. 01-4102.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued July 16, 2002.

Filed August 22, 2002.

Clifford E. Haines, (argued), Litvin, Blumberg, Matusow & Young, Philadelphia, PA, for appellant.

William J. Buckley, (argued), Kimberly A. Boyer, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, Philadelphia, PA, for Mardik Donikyan, M.D.

Lawrence H. Jacobs, (argued), Robert J. Maloof, Hein, Smith, Berezin, Maloof & Jacobs, Hackensack, NJ, for Pascack Valley Hospital.

Before: McKEE, WEIS and DUHE,^* Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

WEIS, Circuit Judge.

New Jersey legislation requires the plaintiff in a malpractice suit to provide an affidavit of merit within 120 days after defendant's answer is filed. Using the date defendant filed his answer to the first amended complaint as the beginning point, the District Court found that plaintiff's affidavit was untimely and dismissed the suit. We conclude that the time limit began to run on the date the defendant filed his answer to the second amended complaint and, therefore, was timely. Accordingly, we will reverse and remand for further proceedings.

On February 11, 1999, plaintiff's husband, Stanley Snyder, became ill while on a business trip in New Jersey. He was taken to Pascack Valley Hospital, where defendant Dr. Mardik Donikyan diagnosed Mr. Snyder's condition as cardiac arrhythmia, pneumonia, hypoglycemia, and dehydration. The patient was released that day and returned to his home in Pennsylvania.

Two days later, on February 13, 1999, he entered the Chester County Hospital, where doctors discovered that he was suffering from a pulmonary embolism. He was evacuated to the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, where he died the following day. In September 1999, plaintiff's counsel obtained an opinion from a pulmonary specialist that "there had been a deviation from the acceptable standards of care in treating Mr. Snyder at the Pascack Valley Hospital...."

In May 2000, plaintiff began a wrongful death action in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging malpractice against Dr. Donikyan, the hospital, and Directcare Medical Services, L.L.C. After the parties filed various pleadings, defendants Donikyan and the hospital moved to dismiss the suit because plaintiff had failed to timely file an affidavit of merit certifying the validity of her claims, as required by a New Jersey statute.

After reviewing the text and purposes of the New Jersey legislation, the District Court concluded that the statute's time limits began to run when the various defendants filed their original answers, rather than their subsequent answers to an amended complaint. On that basis, the Court found plaintiff's affidavit of merit untimely and dismissed the case with prejudice.

While the Court deliberated the timeliness issue, plaintiff requested permission to dismiss her case without prejudice so that she could file another suit and comply with the affidavit of merit requirement in a timely fashion. After dismissing the suit, the District Court denied that motion, reasoning that plaintiff's plans to refile her suit amounted to an attempted evasion of the statute. Plaintiff has appealed both rulings.

Because plaintiff is a Pennsylvania citizen and the defendants are citizens of New Jersey, we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. This Court reviews de novo the District Court's determinations of New Jersey state law. Grimes v. Vitalink Communications Corp., 17 F.3d 1553, 1557 (3d Cir.1994).

In an effort to discourage the filing of frivolous malpractice suits, New Jersey enacted legislation in 1995 requiring plaintiffs to make a threshold showing that their claims are meritorious. The legislative history of this statute and its accompanying provisions is reviewed in some detail in Alan J. Cornblatt, P.A. v. Barow, 153 N.J. 218, 708 A.2d 401 (1998), and need not be repeated here.

The part of the statute pertinent to this case sets out the obligation of the plaintiff in a malpractice suit as follows:

"[t]he plaintiff shall, within 60 days following the date of filing of the answer to the complaint by the defendant, provide each defendant with an affidavit of an appropriate licensed person that there exists a reasonable probability that the care, skill or knowledge exercised or exhibited in the treatment, practice or work that is the subject of the complaint, fell outside acceptable professional or occupational standards or treatment practices. The court may grant no more than one additional period, not to exceed 60 days, to file the affidavit pursuant to this section, upon a finding of good cause."

N.J.Stat.Ann. 2A:53A-27.

We have held that a district court's application of this statute does not conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and hence is enforceable in the district courts when New Jersey law applies. Chamberlain v. Giampapa, 210 F.3d 154, 157 (3d Cir.2000).

Not infrequently, a statute that seems clear in its text presents unexpected problems in its application. The factual variations and the questions generated by resort to the relatively new statute at issue here are reflected in the number of appeals brought to New Jersey's intermediate appellate court, as well as its supreme court.

Eschewing an overly restrictive interpretation, the Supreme Court of New Jersey undertook to fill gaps in the statute by looking to the legislative objectives that led to its enactment. The Court asserted that the statute's goals were twofold, intending "not only to dispose of meritless malpractice claims early in the litigation, but also to allow meritorious claims to move forward unhindered." Burns v. Belafsky, 166 N.J. 466, 766 A.2d 1095, 1099 (2001). In that case, the Court held that the plaintiff was not required to request an extension of time for "good cause" within the original sixty-day period in order to gain the additional sixty days within which to file the affidavit of merit. Id. at 1100-01.

The Burns Court also concluded that inadvertence of counsel could constitute good cause for invocation of the sixty-day extension. "Absent demonstrable prejudice, it is neither necessary nor proper to visit the sins of the attorney upon ... [the] blameless client." Id. at 1101 (internal quotations omitted).

Only a few months after it published the Burns opinion, the New Jersey Supreme Court reiterated its opposition to a wooden construction of the statute. Galik v. Clara Maass Med. Ctr., 167 N.J. 341, 771 A.2d 1141 (2001). Galik held that the plaintiff's submission of medical reports to the defendants' insurance carrier before trial in an effort to settle the claim constituted substantial compliance with the affidavit of merit requirement. Defendants were unable to demonstrate prejudice, and plaintiff had taken steps to comply with the statute by obtaining medical reports even before bringing suit.

Galik held that under these circumstances, the untimely filing of an affidavit in proper form was permissible. Again, the Court emphasized that errors of counsel should not be visited on the client. Id. at 1149-52. See also Fink v. Thompson, 167 N.J. 551, 772 A.2d 386 (2001) (untimely service of affidavit on physician-defendant previously identified in pre-suit report amounted to substantial compliance).

The Appellate Division of New Jersey's Superior Court has also been confronted with a variety of factual circumstances requiring interpretation of the statute. In Barreiro v. Morais, 318 N.J.Super. 461, 723 A.2d 1244 (1999), the Court anticipated Galik in holding that the 120-day limitation was not a bright line beyond which extraordinary circumstances could not apply. 723 A.2d at 1249. Concerned that defendants could improperly use such an interpretation of the statute as a sword, the Court viewed the extraordinary circumstances exception as a means of preventing such improper use. Id. at 1248.

That is not to suggest, however, that the statute has become a toothless tiger. In many instances, the failure to comply with its requirements has resulted in dismissal. See, e.g., Charles A. Manganaro Consulting Engrs., Inc. v. Carneys Point Twp. Sewerage Auth., 344 N.J.Super. 343, 781 A.2d 1116 (2001) (negligence counterclaim dismissed for failure to file affidavit of merit);¹ Scaffidi v. Horvitz, 343 N.J.Super 552, 779 A.2d 439 (2001) (plaintiff who did not ask for materials for affidavit was not excused for untimely filing thereof); Kritzberg v. Tarsny, 338 N.J.Super. 254, 768 A.2d 810 (2001) (affidavit served more than three months late did not relate back nunc pro tunc to answers to interrogatories); Kubiak v. Robert Wood Johnson Univ. Hosp., 332 N.J.Super. 230, 753 A.2d 166 (2000) (functional equivalent of affidavit that has been obtained but not provided to defendant does not constitute substantial compliance). See also Chamberlain, 210 F.3d at 162-63 (no extraordinary circumstances present).

With this brief summary of New Jersey case law, we now consider the facts in the case before us. Because the sequence of the procedural steps is a critical factor in the resolution of this appeal, we set out the chronological history of the pleadings in detail.

• Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on May 15, 2000.

• Dr. Donikyan filed his answer on June 16, 2000.

• Plaintiff attempted to file a second amended complaint on June 29, 2000, but the District Court Clerk's Office declined to accept the document.

• The Hospital filed its answer to the second amended complaint on August 16, 2000.

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