Lake v. Arnold
| Decision Date | 07 September 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-3558,98-3558 |
| Parties | (3rd Cir. 2000) ELIZABETH J. ARNOLD LAKE; JUSTIN WILSON LAKE, HUSBAND AND WIFE, APPELLANTS V. FREDERICK S. ARNOLD; AUDREY L. ARNOLD, HUSBAND AND WIFE; DANIEL M. FRIDAY M.D.; TYRONE HOSPITAL; RALPH W. CRAWFORD M.D. Argued: |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 95-cv-00245) District Judge: Honorable Gary L. Lancaster
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Kristin M. Banasick, Esquire (Argued) 321 South Richard Street Bedford, PA 15522 Attorney for Appellant
Stephen D. Wicks, Esquire Law Office of Stephen D. Wicks 109 Lakemont Park Boulevard Altoona, Pennsylvania 16602 Attorney for Appellees Frederick S. Arnold and Audrey L. Arnold
David R. Bahl, Esquire (Argued) McCormick, Reeder, Nicholas, Bahl, Knecht & Person 835 West Fourth Street Williamsport, Pennsylvania 17701 Attorney for Appellees Daniel M. Friday, M.D. and Ralph W. Crawford, M.D.
John V. DeMarco, Esquire (Argued) Doyle & McCrory One Chatham Center, St. 950 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 Attorney for Appellee Tyrone Hospital
Before: Sloviter and Roth, Circuit Judges POGUE1, Judge
Elizabeth Lake is mentally retarded. In 1977, at 16 years of age, she was permanently sterilized. She and her husband Justin, ask in this appeal whether they can still challenge the sterilization under state and federal law by bringing claims against her father and step-mother who authorized the operation, against the doctors who performed it, and against the hospital where it was performed. Although we agree with the District Court's decision that the Lakes' state claims are time-barred by Pennsylvania's two-year statute of limitations for personal injury suits, we do not agree with its conclusion that the federal civil rights claims are also untimely. Given our earlier decision that the mentally retarded are a protected class for the purposes of 42 U.S.C. S 1985(3), we must determine whether federal tolling doctrine will permit Elizabeth Lake to escape the bar of the statute of limitations on her federal claims. For the reasons we explain below, we will remand this case to the District Court to make this determination in further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
In addition to affirming the dismissal of Elizabeth's state personal injury claims, we also affirm the District Court's dismissal of Justin's state law loss of consortium claim. Finally, we affirm the District Court's denial of the Lakes' request to amend their complaint.
Plaintiff-appellant Elizabeth Arnold Lake was born in Ventura, California, in 1961 to Helga Hadvig and Frederick Arnold. Until she was twelve, Elizabeth lived with her mother and her mother's boyfriend in Minnesota. Her father then invited her to move to Saxton, Pennsylvania, to live with him and his wife, Audrey Arnold. Elizabeth accepted the offer. Elizabeth attended special education classes through the eighth grade, which she completed at age 16 when she left school.
That same year, in June 1977, Elizabeth underwent a tubal ligation at Tyrone Hospital, in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The Lakes allege that the hospital had a policy allowing the sterilization of the mentally retarded. They contend that on the advice of the family physician, Dr. Chester Isenberg, Elizabeth was taken to the hospital by her father and step- mother. Despite the fact that Elizabeth was mentally retarded and allegedly illiterate, hospital employees gave her a consent form to sign, authorizing the procedure. Elizabeth signed the form. Dr. Daniel Friday, supervised by Dr. Ralph Crawford, performed the surgery. At no point did any of the defendants seek to have Elizabeth's interests, as opposed to her parents' interests, reviewed by a court or other appropriate forum.
The Lakes claim that after the surgery Elizabeth's father and step-mother removed her from school and had her do housekeeping duties in their home. She remained a member of the Arnold household until she was in her twenties, when she moved into a group home.
In May 1993, Justin and Elizabeth decided to get married. In December 1993, at Justin's behest, Elizabeth visited a gynecologist to discuss the couple's desire to start a family. During this visit, the doctor told Elizabeth that she could not bear children because of her 1977 tubal ligation. Allegedly, this visit to the doctor was the first time that Elizabeth learned that her 1977 surgery had left her permanently sterilized. Justin and Elizabeth were married in 1994.
The Lakes first filed this civil action on May 31, 1995, in Pennsylvania state court against the following defendants: (1) Elizabeth's father, Frederick S. Arnold, (2) her stepmother, Audrey L. Arnold, (3) Dr. Daniel M. Friday, (4) Dr. Ralph W. Crawford, and (5) Tyrone Hospital. The action alleged nine counts, including state claims for civil battery, negligence, lack of informed consent, and outrageous conduct, as well as two federal counts, one under 42 U.S.C. S 1983 for violation under color of state law of Elizabeth's constitutional right to procreate and the other under 42 U.S.C. S 1985(3) for conspiracy to deprive Elizabeth of the right to procreate because she was mentally retarded. Justin also filed a claim of loss of consortium based on Elizabeth's infertility.
Tyrone Hospital successfully petitioned to remove the case to federal court. Following removal, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint. All the defendants then filed motions to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Adopting the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation, the District Court in June 1996 dismissed the two federal civil rights claims, remanded the remaining state claims to the state court, and relinquished jurisdiction.
Elizabeth and Justin appealed this decision. On May 2, 1997, we reversed the District Court's decision to dismiss the federal civil rights claims, concluding that (1) the Lakes had alleged sufficient facts to sustain a claim of state action under S 19832 and (2) the mentally disabled were a protected class for the purposes of a S 1985(3) conspiracy claim. See Lake v. Arnold, 112 F .3d 682 (3d Cir. 1997) (Lake I). We remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings.
On remand, in response to the amended complaint that reasserted the Lakes' state and federal claims, the defendants again moved to dismiss, this time contending that the Lakes' claims were time-barred by the relevant Pennsylvania statute of limitations. The Magistrate Judge once again ruled for the defendants, recommending in his Report and Recommendation that Elizabeth's claims be dismissed as time-barred and that Justin's loss of consortium claim be dismissed on substantive grounds. See Lake v. Arnold, No. 95-245J (W.D. Pa. Mar. 10, 1998) (Lake II). Both parties filed timely objections. The Lakes also requested leave to amend their complaint to allege new, but unspecified, facts. The District Court, however, adopted the Magistrate Judge's recommendations on the statute of limitations and on Justin's loss of consortium claim and denied the Lakes' request for leave to amend their complaint. See Lake v. Arnold, No. 95-245J (W.D. Pa. Oct. 30, 1998) (Lake III).3 It is this order that the Lakes now appeal.
The District Court had subject matter jurisdiction over the Lakes' federal civil rights claims under 28 U.S.C. S 1331 and supplemental jurisdiction over their related state claims under 28 U.S.C. S 1367. We have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. S 1291.
We exercise plenary review of the District Court's dismissal of the Lakes' claims on statute of limitations grounds under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). See Algrant v. Evergreen Valley Nurseries Ltd. Partnership, 126 F.3d 178, 181 (3d Cir. 1997). This plenary review extends to the District Court's choice and interpretation of applicable tolling principles and its conclusion that the facts prevented a tolling of the statute of limitations. See Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 v. 2300 Group, Inc., 949 F.2d 1274, 1278 (3d Cir. 1991) (citing Venau's v. Vic's Meat Market, Inc., 896 F.2d 43, 45 (3d Cir. 1990)). We assume, for the purposes of our review, that all the facts the Lakes allege in their complaint are true and we give them, as the nonmoving parties below, the benefit of all reasonable inferences one can draw from these facts. We review the District Court's determinations of state law de novo. See Salve Regina College v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 231 (1991); Nelson v. County of Allegheny, 60 F.3d 1010, 1012 (3d Cir. 1995).
The District Court adopted the Magistrate Judge's recommendation that Pennsylvania's two-year statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits governed both the Lakes' state and federal claims. See Lake III. While we agree that Pennsylvania law bars Elizabeth's state law claims, we do not agree with the District Court's determination that the federal claims are also time-barred. Although the Pennsylvania statute of limitations is applied to the federal claims, federal tolling doctrine may be applicable to determine whether Elizabeth's federal claims are timely. See Oshiver v. Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, 38 F.3d 1380, 1387 (3d Cir. 1994) (); Heck v. Humphrey, 997 F.2d 355, 357-58 (7th Cir. 1993). As we discuss below, application of the federal tolling doctrine leads us to conclude that the federal claims may not be barred.
Elizabeth's state claims run the gamut of personal injury claims common to medical malpractice suits, alleging (1) civil battery, (2) negligence by Elizabeth's parents,...
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