Mr. Phillips died on October 11, 2019, shortly after receiving medical attention from Dr. Anna Robbins at Logan Health f/k/a Kalispell Regional Healthcare. On April 22, 2021, Phillips submitted an application to the Montana Medical Legal Panel (MMLP) alleging medical malpractice against Dr. Robbins and Logan Health. The MMLP issued a decision on December 9, 2021. Phillips then filed a Montana medical malpractice complaint in the District Court on January 5, 2022. The Complaint alleged fives causes of action: wrongful death, negligent infliction of emotional distress, loss of consortium, a survivor’s claim, and respondeat superior. The original Complaint was timely filed. However, the Complaint was never served on Logan Health. On February 10, 2023, Phillips filed a First Amended Complaint (FAC) naming the same parties regarding the same incident but adding counts of common law negligence and negligent misrepresentation. The FAC was served on Logan Health on February 20, 2023.
On March 7, 2023, Logan Health filed a motion to dismiss, arguing Phillips had failed to serve the original Complaint within the six-month timeline mandated by § 25-3-106, MCA, and that the two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims set forth in § 27-2-205, MCA, had run before the FAC was filed. On April 28, 2023, the District Court granted Logan Health’s motion to dismiss and dismissed the FAC with prejudice, reasoning Phillips failure to serve the original Complaint within the required six months, combined with the running of the statute of limitations after the six-month service deadline had expired, meant that the FAC was filed outside the two-year period of limitations.
The Supreme Court of the State of Montana stated in its August 13, 2024 opinion: “These two statutes, §§ 27-2-205 and 25-3-106, MCA, taken together establish a policy that the prosecution of a medical malpractice claim must be done diligently and in a timely manner. The purpose of statutes of limitations is to prevent stale claims from being brought against defendants whose ability to effectively defend themselves often worsens over time … Failure to prosecute means a plaintiff has not conducted their due diligence in moving a case forward and bringing it to a conclusion.”
“§ 25-3-106, MCA, mandates service be accomplished in medical malpractice actions within 6 months of the filing of the complaint, but also mandates that the court dismiss the action without prejudice. However, dismissal without prejudice for missing the service deadline does not affect the limitations period. Thus, a complaint must be filed within two years of when the injury accrued under the statute of limitations, regardless of whether service of process is made within 6 months; the limitations period for filing is not extended by the six-month period for serving it. Consequently, the statute of limitations was not tolled during the six-months Phillips had to serve the initial Complaint, but instead continued to run. The District Court erred, although still correct in its decision to dismiss the FAC with prejudice, in finding that the statute of limitations was tolled from January 5, 2022, until July 5, 2022, during the period service was to be made.”
“Here, although the statute of limitations stopped when Phillips filed his initial Complaint on January 5, 2022, Phillips failed to serve the Complaint within six months as required by § 25-3-106, MCA. When the District Court considered Logan Health’s motion to dismiss filed on May 10, 2023, the period of limitations had already run. Thus, even if the District Court had dismissed the initial Complaint or, for that matter the FAC, without prejudice under § 25-3-106, MCA, for failure to timely serve the complaint, the expiration of the limitation period under § 27-2-205, MCA, prevented the filing of a new complaint. Montana’s service of process statute for a medical malpractice action requires that the
complaint be dismissed. The addition in the statute of “without prejudice” does nothing to help the plaintiff who is facing an expired limitation period. Sections 25-3-106 and 27-2-205, MCA, pertain only to medical malpractice actions.
The statutes must be read together and construed consistently as a whole … Here, Logan Health waited well beyond the expiration of the statute of limitations before filing its motion to dismiss, thus ensuring Phillips could not refile within the limitations period, even if the Complaint had been dismissed without prejudice under § 25-3-106, MCA.”
The Montana Supreme Court concluded: “The District Court correctly determined that Phillips’ First Amended Complaint must be dismissed with prejudice because it was filed outside of the limitations period set forth in § 27-2-205, MCA, for medical malpractice claims. However, the District Court erred in determining § 27-2-205, MCA, was tolled by the service of process statute. The service of process statute requires dismissal without prejudice. An action dismissed without prejudice leaves the situation the same as if the suit had never been brought and, therefore, the limitations period is not tolled during the pendency of an action which is dismissed without prejudice. The Legislature has not provided any other mechanism relevant here for tolling the limitations period of § 27-2-205, MCA, other than the MMLP process set forth in § 27-6-702, MCA. We further conclude that Logan Health did not make an appearance when it filed a motion to dismiss as contemplated by § 25-3-106, MCA, and the District Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Phillips’ motion to alter or amend the dismissal. We affirm the District Court’s dismissal of these proceedings with prejudice.”
Source Phillips v. Robbins, M.D., 2024 MT 174.
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