Cronin v. Howe

• Decision Date: 05 September 1995
• Citation: 906 S.W.2d 910
• Parties: Nancy M. CRONIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John W. HOWE, M.D., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 910

906 S.W.2d 910

Nancy M. CRONIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John W. HOWE, M.D., Defendant-Appellee.

Supreme Court of Tennessee,

at Knoxville.

Sept. 5, 1995.

Jerrold L. Becker, John D. Lockridge, Jr., Scarlett A. Beaty, Lockridge & Becker, Knoxville, for Appellant.

Randall L. Kinnard, Kinnard & Clayton, Nashville, Steven R. Walker, Memphis, for amicus curiae, Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association.

Edward G. White, II, Wayne A. Kline, Hodges, Doughty & Carson, Knoxville, for Appellee.

Robert E. Parker, Garrett E. Asher, Parker, Lawrence, Cantrell & Dean, Nashville, for amicus curiae, The Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Chief Justice.

The issue in this appeal is whether the Tennessee savings statute ¹ operates to save a medical malpractice action which was initially filed within the three-year statute of repose, but which was voluntarily dismissed and refiled beyond the three-year statute of repose. ² We hold that it does. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court.

BACKGROUND

The plaintiff, Nancy M. Cronin, filed a medical malpractice action alleging that on February 25, 1988, the defendant, Dr. John W. Howe, negligently failed to diagnose that she had breast cancer and that the correct cancer diagnosis was subsequently made on August 7, 1989. Because the complaint was filed on June 12, 1990, the original action was brought within one year of the discovery of the alleged negligence and within three years of the alleged negligent act. Thereafter, however, on October 23, 1991, Cronin took a voluntary non-suit without prejudice.

Less than one year after the order of voluntary dismissal, Cronin refiled her medical malpractice action, relying upon the Tennessee savings statute which provides that if an action is filed within the statute of limitations and a judgment of dismissal entered, on any ground not concluding the right of action, the action may be refiled one year after the dismissal. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 28-1-105(a) (1980 & Supp.1994). The defendant, for answer and as grounds for summary judgment, relied upon the three-year medical malpractice statute of repose, which provides that no medical malpractice action shall be brought more than three years after the date on which the negligent act occurred. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-26-116(a)(3) (1980).

The trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment, concluding that the savings statute does not "save" the plaintiff's action because it was re-filed beyond the three-year medical malpractice statute of repose. In a memorandum opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Thereafter, we granted the plaintiff's appeal to consider what is, in this Court, an issue of first impression.

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

Because this issue requires an interpretation of the interaction between the medical malpractice statute of repose and the savings statute, the familiar and applicable rules of statutory construction apply.

The role of this Court in construing statutes is to ascertain and give effect to the legislative intent. Wilson v. Johnson County, 879 S.W.2d 807, 809 (Tenn.1994). Legislative intent is to be ascertained whenever possible from the natural and ordinary meaning of the language used, without forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language. Carson Creek Vacation Resorts, Inc. v. State, Dept. of Revenue, 865 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Tenn.1993). If necessary to a determination of the meaning of a statute, however, recourse may be had to considerations of public policy and to the established policy of the Legislature as evidenced by a general course of legislation. Woodroof v. City of Nashville, 183 Tenn. 483, 192 S.W.2d 1013, 1015 (Tenn.1946).

A construction which places one statute in conflict with another must be avoided; therefore, we must resolve any possible conflict between statutes in favor of each other, so as to provide a harmonious operation of the laws. State By and Through Pierotti ex rel. Boone v. Sundquist, 884 S.W.2d 438, 444 (Tenn.1994). In the event two acts conflict and cannot be reconciled, the prior act will be repealed or amended by implication to the extent of the inconsistency between the two, because the Legislature is presumed to have knowledge of its prior enactments and to know the state of the law at the time it passes legislation. Wilson v. Johnson County, 879 S.W.2d at 809. Repeals by implication are not favored, however, and will be recognized only when no fair and reasonable construction will permit the statutes to stand together. Id.

An application of those general rules in this case requires that we examine the plain language and intended purpose of the savings statute and the three-year medical malpractice statute of repose to determine whether any potential conflict between the two can be avoided by a fair and reasonable construction which will provide a harmonious operation of the law and effectuate the legislative intent.

SAVINGS STATUTE vs. STATUTE OF REPOSE

The purpose of the Tennessee savings statute is to provide a diligent plaintiff an opportunity to renew a suit that is dismissed by any judgment or decree that does not conclude the plaintiff's right of action. Dukes v. Montgomery County Nursing Home, 639 S.W.2d 910, 913 (Tenn.1982). A diligent plaintiff has been defined as one whose timely filed complaint puts the defendant on notice that the plaintiff intends to assert her legal rights. Lee v. Crenshaw, 622 F.2d 202 (6th Cir.1980).

The express language of the savings statute provides that:

If the action is commenced within the time limited by a rule or statute of limitation, but the judgment or decree is rendered against the plaintiff upon any ground not concluding his right of action, or where the judgment or decree is rendered in favor of the plaintiff, and is arrested, or reversed on appeal, the plaintiff, or his representatives and privies, as the case may be, may, from time to time, commence a new action within one (1) year after the reversal or arrest.

Tenn.Code Ann. § 28-1-105(a) (1980 & Supp.1994). Many years ago, however, this Court recognized that the statutory language must be applied according to the spirit of the statute. We said:

The statute has not merely letter but a spirit. That spirit is manifested in the history of the statute.... It is that a plaintiff shall not be finally cast out by the force of any judgment or decree whatsoever, not concluding his right of action, without an opportunity to sue again within the brief period limited.

Nashville, C & St. L. Ry. v. Bolton, 134 Tenn. 447, 184 S.W. 9, 11 (1916). Thus, this Court has long been committed to the view that the "savings statute" is remedial and should be liberally construed in furtherance of its purpose and in order to bring cases within its spirit and fair intention. Kee v. Shelter Ins., 852 S.W.2d 226, 228 (Tenn.1993). In effect, the savings statute confers upon a plaintiff who files a second action within one year of a voluntary non-suit of a first action the same procedural and substantive benefits that were available to the plaintiff in the first action. Dukes v. Montgomery County Nursing Home, 639 S.W.2d at 913.

In contrast to the long history of liberal construction and remedial purpose of the savings statute, the three-year medical malpractice statute of repose was enacted in 1975 as part of a comprehensive legislative package designed to confront what the Legislature perceived as a "medical malpractice crisis." Harrison v. Schrader, 569 S.W.2d 822, 826 (Tenn.1978). The statute of repose provides in pertinent part as follows:

(a)(1) The statute of limitations in malpractice actions shall be (1) year as set forth in § 28-3-104.

(2) In the event the alleged injury is not discovered within the said one (1) year period, the period of limitation shall be one (1) year from the date of such discovery.

(3) In no event shall any such [medical malpractice] action be brought more than three (3) years after the date on which the negligent act or omission occurred except where there is fraudulent concealment on the part of the defendant in which case the action shall be commenced within one (1) year after discovery that the cause of action exists.

Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-26-116 (1980). On its face, the statute recognizes the application of the one-year statute of limitations and the discovery rule, but places an absolute three-year limit upon the time within which malpractice actions can be brought, which has been characterized as "an outer limit or ceiling superimposed upon the existing statute [of limitations]." Harrison v. Schrader, 569 S.W.2d at 826. The three-year limit was intended by the Legislature to provide certainty as to the time period during which a physician could be subject to potential liability and was an effort to both address the actuarial concerns of the insurance industry and stem increasing medical malpractice insurance rates. Id.; Parlato v. Howe, 470 F.Supp. 996, 998 (E.D.Tenn.1979).

Accordingly, where the one-year statute of limitations governs the time within which legal proceedings may be commenced after a cause of action accrues, the three-year medical malpractice statute of repose limits the time within which an action may be brought, but it is entirely unrelated to the accrual of a cause of action and can, in fact, bar a cause of action before it has accrued. Watts v. Putnam County, 525 S.W.2d 488, 491 (Tenn.1975); Cheswold Volunteer Fire Co. v. Lambertson Constr. Co., 489 A.2d 413, 421 (Del.1984). That distinction has prompted courts to hold that statutes of repose are substantive and extinguish both the right and the remedy, while statutes of limitation are merely procedural, extinguishing only the remedy. See Bruce v. Hamilton, 894 S.W.2d 274, 276 (Tenn.App.1993); Cheswold Volunteer Fire Co. v. Lambertson Constr. Co., 489 A.2d at 421; Wright v. Robinson, 262 Ga. 844, 426 S.E.2d 870 (199...