Creighton v. Caylor-Nickel Hosp., Inc.

• Decision Date: 13 November 1985
• Docket Number: No. 2-1184-A-355,CAYLOR-NICKEL,2-1184-A-355
• Citation: 484 N.E.2d 1303
• Parties: Robert E. CREIGHTON and Maxine E. Creighton, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v.HOSPITAL, INC., Appellee (Defendant).
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 1303

484 N.E.2d 1303

Robert E. CREIGHTON and Maxine E. Creighton, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. CAYLOR-NICKEL HOSPITAL, INC., Appellee (Defendant).

No. 2-1184-A-355.

Court of Appeals of Indiana Second District.

Nov. 13, 1985.

Sherrill Wm. Colvin, John O. Feighner, Snouffer, Haller and Colvin, Fort Wayne, for appellants (plaintiffs).

James R. Fisher, Robert B. Clemens, Ice, Miller, Donadio and Ryan, Indianapolis, for appellee (defendant).

BUCHANAN, Chief Judge.

CASE SUMMARY

Plaintiff-appellants, Robert and Maxine Creighton [hereinafter collectively referred to as the Creightons], appeal the trial court's entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellee, Caylor-Nickel Hospital, Inc. (Hospital), in the Creightons' action under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act, Ind.Code 16-9.5-1-1 to 16-9.5-10-5 (1982), claiming, that under Ind. Rules of Procedure, Trial Rule 15(C) their amended proposed complaint related back to the date of the filing of their original proposed complaint and, as a matter of law, precluded the entry of summary judgment in favor of the Hospital on its statute of limitations defense.

We reverse.

FACTS

On February 24, 1978, while a patient in the Caylor-Nickel Hospital, Bluffton, Indiana, Robert was injured when he fell in a shower/tub unit. The Hospital is one of three facilities bearing the Caylor-Nickel title; the other two are the Caylor-Nickel Research Institute and the Caylor-Nickel Clinic (Clinic). While all three are located within close proximity to one another and, in fact, the Clinic occupies a portion of the Hospital's building pursuant to a lease arrangement, each facility is a separate legal entity. In response to inquiries by Robert's attorney, the Indiana Patient's Compensation Authority (Authority), a division of the Indiana Department of Insurance, informed the attorney, by letter dated March 9, 1979, that the "Caylor-Nickel Clinic (Hospital)" had paid the necessary surcharge and had filed a certificate of insurance with the Authority for the period in which Robert was injured. Thereafter, on February 19, 1980, five days before the statute of limitations would have run on the malpractice claim, see IC 16-9.5-3-1, the Creightons filed a proposed complaint for medical malpractice with the Authority in which they named the Clinic, but not the Hospital, as a defendant. Pursuant to IC 16-9.5-9-1, the Commissioner of Insurance (Commissioner) forwarded a copy of this proposed complaint to the Caylor-Nickel Clinic on February 22, 1980, two days before the statute of limitations would have run on Creighton's claim. This proposed complaint was received by the Clinic's risk manager, Cecil Lockwood, Jr. (Lockwood), on February 28, 1980. On the same day, Lockwood forwarded relevant information to the Clinic's insurer and stated in his cover letter:

"We are sure, also, that it is not necessary to call your attention to the fact that the fall which resulted in the suit against Caylor-Nickel Clinic occurred on the premises owned and operated by Caylor-Nickel Hospital, Inc., and in an area of the building for which the Caylor-Nickel Clinic has no responsibility whatsoever."

Record at 151. Lockwood was familiar with the facts of Robert's fall because he was also employed by the Hospital as its risk manager on an independent contractor basis and had investigated the circumstances of the fall in that capacity shortly after the incident.

On February 29, 1980, the Department of Insurance reported to the Creightons' attorney that the Authority had provided erroneous information concerning the registration of the Clinic with the Authority. This letter informed the Creightons' attorney that the Hospital was registered while the Clinic was not and that the confusion resulted from the erroneous assumption that the three separate Caylor-Nickel facilities were all one and the same. Record at 140. Upon receiving this information, the Creightons' attorney mailed an amended proposed complaint to the Authority in which it named the Hospital as a defendant for the first time. While the amended complaint was actually received by the Authority on March 3, 1980, eight days after the statute of limitations would have expired on the claim, it was stamped as having been filed on February 19, 1980, the date the original complaint was first filed. This was consistent with the Authority's administrative practices at that time which have since been discontinued. The Authority then forwarded a copy of the amended complaint to the Hospital. The amended complaint was received by Lockwood in his capacity as risk manager for the Hospital.

Pursuant to the procedures of the Medical Malpractice Act, the Creightons' personal injury claim was reviewed by a medical review panel. The panel determined that there was a fact issue which did not require expert opinion. Following this decision, the Creightons timely filed a complaint for damages against the Hospital in the Wells Circuit Court, and on February 17, 1982, the Hospital filed its answer to the Creightons' complaint without raising any affirmative defenses. The case was later venued to the Huntington Circuit Court. More than a year later, on May 18, 1983, and approximately three weeks prior to the date the case was scheduled to be tried before a jury, the Hospital sought leave to amend its answer to include the affirmative defense that the Creightons had not filed an action against the Hospital within two years of the date of Robert's injuries and, therefore, the Creightons' action was barred by the statute of limitations. The trial judge granted the Hospital leave to amend its answer, vacated the jury trial setting, and permitted the Hospital to file a motion for summary judgment based on the statute of limitations defense. A hearing was held, and the trial court granted the Hospital's motion for summary judgment.

ISSUE

As we reverse, we need address only one issue raised by the Creightons' appeal:

Whether the Hospital was entitled to summary judgment on its statute of limitations defense as a matter of law?

DECISION

PARTIES' CONTENTIONS--The Creightons contend that the Hospital received sufficient notice of the claim against it to allow their amended complaint to relate back to the date their original complaint was timely filed. Therefore, they argue, their claim was not subject to the Hospital's statute of limitations defense.

The Hospital responds that T.R. 15(C) allows relation back only if the defendant to be brought in by the amendment has received actual notice of the claim within the statute of limitations. The Hospital asserts that it received no notice of the claim until after the limitations period had expired and that it is, therefore, entitled to summary judgment.

CONCLUSION--The Hospital received sufficient notice to allow relation back under T.R. 15(C), and, consequently, the Hospital was not entitled to summary judgment on its statute of limitations defense.

We repeat the litany of rules surrounding summary judgment. Summary judgment is appropriate only when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits and testimony, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." T.R. 56(C). See also Barnes v. Wilson (1983), Ind.App., 450 N.E.2d 1030; Colbert v. Waitt (1982), Ind.App., 445 N.E.2d 1000. A factual issue is genuine if it cannot be completely resolved after examination of the undisputed facts. Powell v. Dawson (1984), Ind.App., 469 N.E.2d 1179. Even if the facts are undisputed, summary judgment is inappropriate if different inferences can be drawn from those undisputed facts. Colbert, supra; Carrow v. Streeter (1980), Ind.App., 410 N.E.2d 1369; Adams v. Luros (1980), Ind.App., 406 N.E.2d 1199. Initially, the burden lies with the movant to establish that no genuine issues of material fact exist. Powell, supra; Adams, supra. However, in a summary judgment proceeding in which the movant raises an affirmative defense based on a statute of limitations, he need only make a prima facie showing that the cause of action was commenced beyond the statutory period. Conrad v. Waugh (1985), Ind.App., 474 N.E.2d 130. The burden then falls on the opponent of the motion to establish "the existence of material facts in avoidance of the statute of limitations defense...." Id. at 134.

Here, the Hospital made a prima facie showing that the amended proposed complaint specifically naming the Hospital as a defendant was not filed within the statutory period. Nevertheless, the Creightons sought to avoid the statute of limitations defense by invoking the relation back doctrine of T.R. 15(C) so that the amended complaint would relate back to and be deemed filed on the day the original proposed complaint was filed, which was before the statute of limitations expired.

T.R. 15(C) states:

"Whenever the claim or defense 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, the amendment relates back to the date of the original pleading. An amendment changing the party against whom a claim is asserted relates back if the foregoing provision is satisfied and, within the period provided by law for commencing the action against him, the party to be brought in by amendment:

(1) has received such notice of the institution of the action that he will not be prejudiced in maintaining his defense on the merits; and

(2) knew or should have known that but for a mistake concerning the identity of the proper party, the action would have been brought against him."

It is undisputed that the claim asserted in the Creightons' amended complaint arose out of the same occurrence set forth in the timely filed original complaint. Consequently, the first condition of T.R. 15(C) is met. It is also undisputed that the Hospital...