Bigay v. Garvey
| Decision Date | 12 March 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. C9-96-1033,C9-96-1033 |
| Citation | 575 N.W.2d 107 |
| Parties | Shari BIGAY, Respondent, v. Timothy A. GARVEY, M.D., petitioner, Appellant, Gary Banks, M.D., Respondent, Jeffrey Dick, M.D., Defendant, Regents of the University of Minnesota, d/b/a/ The University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic, Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Under Minn. R. Civ. P. 15.03, an amended complaint alleging negligent nondisclosure will not relate back to an original complaint alleging negligent care and treatment in the performance of surgery, where the original complaint provides no notice to the defendants of the proposed amended complaint.
Charles E. Lundberg, Bassford, Lockhart, Truesdell & Briggs, P.A., Minneapolis, for appellant.
Theodore G. Gudorf, O'Loughlin & Gudorf, Dayton, OH, Geoffrey P. Jarpe, Maun & Simon, P.L.C., St. Paul, for respondent Shari Bigay.
William M. Hart, Joseph W.E. Schmitt, Robert M. Frazee, Meagher & Geer, P.L.L.P., Minneapolis, for respondent Gary Banks.
Barry G. Vermeer, Anne T. Johnson, Gislason, Dosland, Hunter & Malecki, P.L.L.P Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
Minnetonka, for respondent Regents of Univ. of Minn.
On June 2, 1994, plaintiff Shari Bigay initiated a medical malpractice action for negligent care and treatment against Dr. Timothy Garvey, Dr. Gary Banks, and the Regents of the University of Minnesota, d/b/a the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic (UMHC). Bigay's complaint alleged that she sustained injuries during spinal fusion surgery performed at UMHC on June 3, 1992. Bigay later sought to amend her original complaint to add a negligent nondisclosure claim. The defendants argued that the amended complaint did not relate back to the original complaint as required by Minn. R. Civ. P. 15.03, and, in the alternative, if it did relate back, it was nonetheless barred by the statute of limitations. The district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the amended complaint. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the amended complaint did relate back and remanded the case to the district court. We reverse the court of appeals.
Plaintiff Shari Bigay first met with Dr. Timothy Garvey at the Veterans' Administration Medical Center in the spring of 1992 to seek treatment for her lower back pain. Dr. Garvey diagnosed degenerative disc changes at spinal level L5-S1 and foraminal stenosis, and he recommended spinal fusion surgery to alleviate Bigay's lower back pain. Dr. Garvey explained the risks of surgery to Bigay, including blood loss, nerve damage, failure to alleviate pain, and even death. Dr. Garvey did not tell Bigay that there was a risk of bowel perforation. On May 28, 1992, Bigay signed a written consent for the surgery.
On June 3, 1992, Dr. Garvey and Dr. Gary Banks, a resident physician, performed the spinal fusion surgery on Bigay at UMHC. The procedure involved removing the diseased disc material and fusing the spine with a graft of morcellized bone. Dr. Garvey testified that the surgery itself was uneventful, but after the surgery Bigay experienced abdominal pain and bloating. A specialist, Dr. John Delaney, was consulted and he subsequently performed an exploratory laparotomy that revealed three lacerations in the ileum (small intestine) and one laceration in the colon. These lacerations resulted in peritonitis, an infection caused by the leakage of fecal material in the peritoneal cavity. Dr. Delaney then performed a colostomy and ileostomy to stop the spread of fecal peritonitis. Further complications required additional surgery.
On June 2, 1994, Bigay filed a complaint against Dr. Garvey, Dr. Banks, and UMHC, seeking damages for negligent care and treatment. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Drs. Garvey and Banks were negligent in their performance of the spinal fusion surgery, causing the perforations of her ileum and colon that led to peritonitis. The complaint further alleged that Dr. Garvey and UMHC negligently failed to supervise Dr. Banks during surgery.
In late March 1995, Bigay served the defendants with an amended complaint, adding a claim for damages against Dr. Garvey, Dr. Banks, and UMHC for negligent nondisclosure of alternative risks and treatment. The amended complaint alleged that the surgical procedure technique utilized by Dr. Garvey on Bigay was experimental and that Dr. Garvey failed to inform Bigay of that fact.
In May 1995, the district court allowed Bigay to amend her original complaint, but reserved ruling on the issue of whether the negligent nondisclosure claim was barred by the statute of limitations. On the first day of trial, November 1, 1995, the district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the amended claim. After the close of Bigay's case-in-chief, the district court directed a verdict for UMHC on all of the claims, including the negligent supervision claim. The jury returned a verdict on the remaining issues, finding that Dr. Garvey and Dr. Banks were not negligent in their care and treatment of Bigay.
The court of appeals reversed the district court's pretrial order dismissing Bigay's added claim for negligent nondisclosure and remanded. Bigay v. Garvey, 562 N.W.2d 695, 704 (Minn.App.1997). On appeal, Dr. Garvey argues that the negligent nondisclosure claim does not relate back to the negligent care and treatment claim under Minn. R. Civ. P. 15.03. 1 Whether a party satisfies the requirements of Minn. R. Civ. P. 15.03 to have an amended complaint relate back to the original complaint is a question of law, subject to de novo review by this court. Carlson v. Hennepin County, 479 N.W.2d 50, 53 (Minn.1992).
Minnesota law imposes a two-year statute of limitations on any cause of action against physicians, surgeons, and other health care professionals. Minn.Stat. § 541.07(1) (1996). Bigay served her original complaint alleging negligent care and treatment in the performance of the spinal fusion surgery on June 2, 1994, just within two years of the June 3, 1992 surgery. Bigay's amended complaint alleging negligent nondisclosure was served on March 29, 1995, well beyond the two-year statute of limitations governing such actions. Nonetheless, an otherwise untimely claim can be saved from the statute of limitations if it is held to relate back to the date of original timely pleading. See Minn. R. Civ. P. 15.03.
In determining whether an amended claim relates back to the date of the original pleading, Minn. R. Civ. P. 15.03 applies the same standard as Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c). The relevant consideration is whether the claim asserted in the amended pleading "arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading." In recognizing this consideration, this court has noted that relation back under Rule 15.03 is not limited to amendments which do not state a new cause of action:
The principle of relation back of amended pleadings existed in prior law, but it was limited to an amendment which did not state a new cause of action. The harshness of the rule was modified by a liberal construction of a "cause of action". In accord with this liberal application of the principle, the rule requires only that the amendment arise out of the "conduct, transaction, or occurrence" set forth in the original pleading.
Heyn v. Braun, 239 Minn. 496, 501-02, 59 N.W.2d 326, 330 (1953) (citation omitted).
In the instant case, the court of appeals reasoned that the original claim of negligent care and treatment in the performance of the surgery and the amended claim of negligent nondisclosure "both arise from the same general conduct and occurrence that caused Bigay's injury and are based on a common factual transaction: surgical treatment for Bigay's lower back pain." Bigay, 562 N.W.2d at 700. Therefore, the court of appeals concluded that the original complaint alleging negligence in the performance of surgery provided sufficient notice of the facts underlying the negligent nondisclosure claim and that the amended complaint related back to the original complaint. Id. We disagree with the court of appeals' conclusion that the presurgery consultation, diagnosis, recommendations for treatment, and actual surgery can be viewed as one continuous transaction or occurrence.
Three factors are generally considered in determining whether a claim arose out of the same conduct, transaction, or occurrence: whether the defendant had notice of the claim that the plaintiff is now asserting; whether the plaintiff will rely on the same kind of evidence offered in support of the...
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