Kostoglanis v. Yates

• Decision Date: 12 March 2021
• Docket Number: No. 19-2078,19-2078
• Citation: 956 N.W.2d 157
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Parties: Christine KOSTOGLANIS, Appellant, v. LeRoy L. YATES and Diamond Medical Spa & Vein, P.C., Appellees.

956 N.W.2d 157

Christine KOSTOGLANIS, Appellant,

v.LeRoy L. YATES and Diamond Medical Spa & Vein, P.C., Appellees.

No. 19-2078

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Submitted February 16, 2021

Filed March 12, 2021

Candy K. Pastrnak of Pastrnak Law Firm, P.C., Davenport, for appellant.

Jennifer E. Rinden, Desirée A. Kilburg, and Vincent S. Geis of Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C., Cedar Rapids, for appellees.

McDonald, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which all participating justices joined. Oxley, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

McDONALD, Justice.

In June 2015, Dr. LeRoy Yates provided medical services to Christine Kostoglanis at Diamond Medical Spa and Vein, including liposuction

and adipose derived mesenchymal stem cell transfer procedures. Within days of the procedures, Kostoglanis contacted Diamond Medical with concerns regarding the procedures, her wound, and postoperative wound care. Unsatisfied with the response, Kostoglanis sought a second opinion and began treating with a wound clinic in July. Three years later, in June 2018, Kostoglanis filed this suit against Yates and Diamond Medical, asserting claims for negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and breach of contract. On the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the district court held Kostoglanis's causes of action, however styled, arose out of patient care and were barred by the two-year statute of limitations governing malpractice actions in Iowa Code section 614.1(9) (2015). Kostoglanis timely filed this appeal.

The standards for granting summary judgment are well established and need not be repeated in full herein. "We review summary judgment rulings for correction of errors at law." Deeds v. City of Marion , 914 N.W.2d 330, 339 (Iowa 2018). "Summary judgment is proper when the movant establishes there is no genuine issue of material fact and it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Goodpaster v. Schwan's Home Serv., Inc. , 849 N.W.2d 1, 6 (Iowa 2014). "We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Banwart v. 50th St. Sports, L.L.C. , 910 N.W.2d 540, 545 (Iowa 2018).

At issue is the statute of limitations applicable to Kostoglanis's claims for negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and breach of contract. As relevant here, Iowa Code section 614.1 provides:

Actions may be brought within the times herein limited, respectively, after their causes accrue, and not afterwards, except when otherwise specially declared:

....

4. Unwritten contracts —injuries to property —fraud —other actions. Those founded on unwritten contracts, those brought for injuries to property, or for relief on the ground of fraud in cases heretofore solely cognizable in a court of chancery, and all other actions not otherwise provided for in this respect, within five years, except as provided by subsections 8 and 10.

5. Written contracts —judgments of courts not of record —recovery of real property and rent.

a. Except as provided in paragraph "b ", those founded on written contracts, or on judgments of any courts except those provided for in subsection 6, and those brought for the recovery of real property, within ten years.

....

9. Malpractice.

a. ... those founded on injuries to the person ... against any physician and surgeon ... arising out of patient care, within two years after the date on which the claimant knew, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have known ... the injury or death for which damages are sought in the action ....

Iowa Code § 614.1. Kostoglanis argues the applicable limitation periods are the five-year and ten-year periods in subsections (4) and (5). The defendants contend, and the district court held, each of Kostoglanis's causes of action arises out of patient care and the applicable limitations period is the two-year period in subsection (9).

"When disagreement arises as to which of the several periods of limitation contained in Iowa Code section 614.1 is applicable, we must determine ... which of the types of actions described in the statute most nearly characterizes the action before the court." Scott v. City of Sioux City , 432 N.W.2d 144, 147 (Iowa 1988). In making that determination, we look to "[t]he actual nature of the action." Venard v. Winter , 524 N.W.2d 163, 165 (Iowa 1994). The question "turns on the nature of the right sued upon and not on the elements of relief sought for the claim." Id.

In determining the appropriate statute of limitations for a specific cause of action, the Code requires us to look to the foundation of the action. This means that the appropriate statute of limitations is to be ascertained by characterizing the actual nature of the action.

Sandbulte v. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. , 343 N.W.2d 457, 462 (Iowa 1984), overruled on other grounds by Langwith v. Am. Nat'l Gen. Ins. , 793 N.W.2d 215 (Iowa 2010), superseded by statute , 2011 Iowa Acts ch. 70, § 45 (codified at Iowa Code § 522B.11(7) (2013)).

On only one occasion have we addressed the question of whether causes of action not styled as medical malpractice claims should nonetheless be subject to the medical malpractice statute of limitations. In Langner v. Simpson , the plaintiff brought six different claims against a psychiatrist and hospital for inappropriate statements the psychiatrist allegedly made to the plaintiff during the course of treatment. 533 N.W.2d 511, 515–16 (Iowa 1995). "[The] claims include[d] psychiatric malpractice, intentional infliction of emotional distress, slander per se, slander, invasion of privacy, and breach of contract." Id. at 516. We held " section 614.1(9) —the malpractice statute of limitations—applie[d] to all of the claims" against the psychiatrist and hospital. Id. We reasoned that all of the claims "arose out of injuries allegedly suffered" while the plaintiff was under the care of the psychiatrist and hospital. Id.

Our holding in Langner is consistent with the decisions of other courts. It is widely accepted that a plaintiff cannot through artful pleading evade the statute of limitations governing medical malpractice actions. See, e.g. , Larson v. UHS of Rancho Springs, Inc. , 230 Cal.App.4th 336, 179 Cal. Rptr. 3d 161, 173 (2014) (holding that the "self-serving characterizations are merely attempts to avoid [the statute of limitations] impose[d] on all medical malpractice claims"); Griffin v. Carson , 255 Ga.App. 373, 566 S.E.2d 36, 38 (2002) ("Whether couched in terms of a tort or breach of contract action, the two-year statute of limitation applies to malpractice actions for injuries arising out of medical services."); Lucas v. Awaad , 299 Mich.App. 345, 830 N.W.2d 141, 151–52 (2013) ("In sum, Lucas's allegation of intentional infliction of emotional distress sounds in medical malpractice because the alleged actions occurred during the course of a professional relationship and the claim requires an examination of medical expertise or medical judgment in order for Lucas to prevail."); Simmons v. Apex Drug Stores, Inc. , 201 Mich.App. 250, 506 N.W.2d 562, 564 (1993) (stating the plaintiff's "attempt to avoid the [statute of limitations’ bar] by characterizing defendant's alleged negligence as something other than professional malpractice ... will not succeed"), holding modified by Patterson v. Kleiman , 447 Mich. 429, 526 N.W.2d 879 (1994) (per curiam); McMichael v. Howell , 919 So. 2d 18, 23 (Miss. 2005) (holding that plaintiff's "argument to support her ‘breach of contract’ claim is nothing more than medical malpractice"); McCormick v. Centerpoint Med. Ctr. of Indep., LLC , 534 S.W.3d 273, 277–78 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017) ("It is clear that an action that arises out of a doctor's malpractice or negligence in providing health care cannot avoid the application of [the statute of limitations] merely because it is pled as a claim for fraud, misrepresentation, or breach of contract." (quoting Breeden v. Hueser , 273 S.W.3d 1, 7 (Mo. Ct. App. 2008) )); Compton v. Jue , NO. 01-16-00412-CV, 2017 WL 3389644, at *4 (Tex. App. Aug. 8, 2017) ("It is well settled that a health care liability claim cannot be recast as another cause of action to avoid the requirements governing health care liability claims.").

Kostoglanis relies on Doe v. Cherwitz , 894 F. Supp. 344 (S.D. Iowa 1995), in support of her argument that the limitation period for malpractice actions does not apply here. In that case, the plaintiff brought multiple claims against a physician and clinic alleging the physician forcibly had sexual intercourse with her against her will during a physical examination. See Doe , 894 F. Supp. at 344–45. Relying on Langner , the defendants argued the malpractice limitations period applied. See id. at 345. The district court distinguished Langner . See id. In Langner , the district court reasoned, each of the plaintiff's claims involved injuries arising out of patient care. See id. (citing Langner , 533 N.W.2d at 516 ). In contrast, while Doe's claims arose in a clinical setting, her injuries did not arise out of patient care within that setting. See id. The district court explained:

I do not believe the Iowa Supreme Court meant to hold, or would hold if this case were presented to it, that section 614.1(9) applies to willful non-treatment tortious activity by the physician, simply because it occurred when the patient was seeing the physician for medical reasons. Obviously, that is not what the legislature intended in enacting the statute,

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