Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

427 So. 2d 290

Cates ex rel. Cates v. Graham

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided February 22, 1983

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1983-02-22

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“An action for medical malpractice shall be commenced within 2 years from the time the incident giving rise to the action occurred or within 2 years from the time the incident is discovered, or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence; however, in no event shall the action be commenced later than 4 years from the date of the incident or occurrence out of which the cause of action accrued. ... In those actions covered by this paragraph in which it can be shown that fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation of fact prevented the discovery of the injury within the 4-year period, the period of limitations is extended forward 2 years from the time that the injury is discovered or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence, but in no event to exceed 7 years from the date the incident giving rise to the injury occurred.”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including 451 So. 2d 475 - Cates v. Graham, 455 So. 2d 620 - PISUT BY PISUT v. Sichelman

“In performing that function [determining the constitutionality of the statute as a matter of law], the court may determine, under the facts of the case, whether or not the party was afforded a reasonable time in which to act before being barred under the applicable statute.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Lugo v. Ford Motor Co.

Relies on 357 So. 2d 401 - Bauld v. JA Jones Const. Co. · Mahood v. Bessemer Properties Incorporated · Campbell v. Horne, Et Ux.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1983-02-22

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently February 2013

11 state decisions

901983199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1OPINION ON REHEARING GRANTED

BARKDULL, Judge.

¶2The trial court granted a summary judgment for the defendant in a medical malpractice action finding that the plaintiffs cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations. The summary judgment reads as follows:

THIS CAUSE came before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendants, ORLANDO R. GRAHAM, M.D.; PONDER & ASSOCIATES *291EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS, P.A., and NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL, INC. The Court finds from the pleadings, depositions and answers to interrogatories that the medical care and treatment provided by Defendants to Plaintiff ROBERT B. CATES, which Plaintiffs allege was negligent care and treatment, occurred on June 21, June 24 and July 4,1975. Plaintiffs claim that DR. GRAHAM negligently failed to remove a piece of glass from the foot of Plaintiff ROBERT B. CATES. Defendants denied Plaintiffs’ allegations and, as an affirmative defense, asserted that Plaintiffs’ action was time barred by F.S. 95.11(4)(b) which provides that in medical malpractice actions, in no event shall the action be commenced later than four (4) years from the date of the incident or occurrence out of which the cause of action accrued. Plaintiffs argued that the Statute is unconstitutional because it abolishes the right to sue any health care provider whose professional negligence proximately causes a plaintiff an injury more than four (4) years from the date of the incident or occurrence. It was Plaintiffs’ position that the glass was not discovered in the minor Plaintiff’s foot until after four (4) years from the date of treatment by Defendant ORLANDO R. GRAHAM, M.D. and, therefore, the Statute operated as a total bar to his ever filing a claim for his injuries. The Court finds Plaintiffs’ argument invalid, as the minor Plaintiff’s medical care and treatment occurred last on July 4, 1975, and Plaintiffs knew that there had been glass left in the minor Plaintiff’s foot by February 6, 1979. Accordingly, Plaintiffs had from February 6, 1979, when they knew of the alleged malpractice, until July 4, 1979, when the action became time barred, within which to file a medical malpractice action. Notwithstanding having had a period of approximately five (5) months within which to file an action, Plaintiffs waited until over eleven (11) months before filing a medical malpractice mediation claim on January 9, 1980. The Court finds that when applied to the facts in this case, F.S. 95.11(4)(b) is constitutional and that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment should be and is hereby granted.
WHEREFORE, the Court hereby grants and enters Summary Judgment in favor of Defendants and, accordingly, Plaintiffs shall go hence without day and Defendants shall recover their taxable costs, as proscribed by law.

¶3We affirm upon the Supreme Court reasoning contained in Bauld v. J.A. Jones Construction Company, 357 So.2d 401 (Fla.1978). The question of the constitutionality of a statute is a question of law for the court. City of St. Petersburg v. Austin, 355 So.2d 486 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978); 30 Fla.Jur., Statutes § 76.

¶4In performing that function the court may determine, under the facts of the case, whether or not the party was afforded a reasonable time in which to act before being barred under the applicable statute. See and Compare Bauld v. J.A. Jones Construction Company, supra; Buck v. Triplett, 159 Fla. 772, 32 So.2d 753 (1947); Mahood v. Bessemer Properties Incorporated, 154 Fla. 710, 18 So.2d 775 (1944); Campbell v. Horne, 147 Fla. 523, 3 So.2d 125 (1941).

¶5Therefore, for the reasons above stated the final judgment hereunder review be and the same is hereby affirmed.

¶6Affirmed.

/427/so2d/290 · .json · Public domain