Never Non-Suit a Hospital Covered as a Governmental Entity under the GTLA
posted on October 13th, 2008 by clintIn Bertrand v. Regional Medical Center at Memphis, 2008 WL 4334921 (Tenn.Ct.App.), the plaintiff filed a medical malpractice action in October of 2003 against The Regional Medical Center at Memphis (“the Med”) and several physicians. Plaintiff voluntarily non-suited his action and re-filed it within the one-year period provided by the savings statute codified at T.C.A. § 28-1-105. The trial court awarded summary judgment to the Med upon determining Plaintiff could not rely on the savings statute where the General Assembly had amended the Governmental Tort Liability Act (“the GTLA”), bringing the Med within the scope of the GTLA as codified at T.C.A. § 29-20-101 (2007 Supp.), et seq. The amendment became effective July 1, 2003. Thus, the statute of limitations barred the refiled action.
The Court of Appeals held that the savings statute did not apply after the amendment of the GTLA, which added the Med to the list of governmental entities covered by the Act. This is a tough procedural decision that reminds us all of the perils of non-suiting a governmental entity.