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Timestamp: 2019-04-21 00:50:57+00:00

Document:
When Is the Statute of Limitations a Defense?
II) Framework for determining when a statute of limitations is a defense.
III) Statutes of limitations for various claims.
Personal injury - within 2 years of accrual (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)) Unwritten contract, fraud, or injury to property – within 5 years of accrual (Iowa Code §614.1(4)) Written contract – within 10 years of accrual (Iowa Code § 614.1(5)) Workers’ compensation - in a contested case, within 2 years of occurrence of injury or within 3 years of the last payment of weekly benefits (Iowa Code § 85.26) Medical malpractice – within 2 years of accrual (Iowa Code § 614.1(9)) Claims against a municipality (city, county, township, school district or other unit of local government) or the employees, officers or agents of a municipality for “wrongful death, loss or injury” -2 years from wrongful death, loss or injury (Iowa Code § 670.5)) Most claims of minors or people with mental illness- within one year of attainment of minority or one year from termination of disability. Iowa Code § 614.8. This is only the rule if a minor orindividual with a mental illness wants to bring his or her own claim. If a guardian desires to bring anaction on behalf of a minor or mentally disabled individual, then the claim must be brought within thestatute of limitations applicable to the particular type of claim, with no extensions on account ofminority or disability. Accrual.
FACTS: 3/19/99 - The Rathjes admitted their sixteen year old daughter, Georgia, into an outpatient alcohol abuse treatment center. A doctor at the center prescribedAntabuse, a drug that results in an unpleasant bodily reaction to theingestion of alcohol. 1 week later: Georgia began feeling nauseated. 4/26/99 - Georgia’s skin was yellow; she appeared jaundiced.
4/27/99 - Georgia was admitted to a hospital, where a gastroenterologist diagnosed Georgia with drug-induced hepatitis. Georgia stopped taking Antabuse. 4/26/01 - Georgia and her parents filed a petition alleging medical malpractice. 5/5/01 - Georgia received a liver transplant due to end-stage liver disease secondary to HOLDING: The district court erred in granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the ground the statute of limitations barred Georgia’s claim.
that date, and the Rathjes’ petition was filed before the statute of limitations had run.
Summer 1997 - Tamra Murtha noticed a lump in her breast.
Summer 1997 - December 2001- Doctors concluded Murtha’s lump was not malignant and did not seem too concerned about it.
12/7/01 - A physician expressed some concern about the lump and suggested 4/02 - Murtha obtained a second opinion that the lump should probably be 6/14/02 - The lump was removed. Diagnostic testing showed the lump was 9/5/03 - Murtha filed suit for misdiagnosis of her lump and negligent The district court erred in granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the ground the statute of limitations barred Murtha’s claim.
REASONING: The Iowa Supreme Court determined that whether the two year medical malpractice statute of limitations bars the plaintiff’s claim is a jury question. In a negligent misdiagnosis case, “injury” occurs when a problem grows into a serious condition posing greaterdanger to the patient or which requires more extensive treatment. A reasonable factfinder could thusconclude Murtha was not injured until the two years preceding suit. A reasonable factfinder could alsoconclude the first Murtha knew of her injury and cause was 12/7/01 (within two-year period precedinglawsuit). Practical effect of Rathje and Murtha is that it will be harder for defendants to get summaryjudgment on the basis of the statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases. When amedical malpractice cause of action accrues will frequently be a fact question for the jury. Miscellaneous.
Effect of death on statutes of limitations. Iowa Code section 611.20 keeps alive for the benefit of the estate the cause of action that the deceased, prior to his death, could have brought if he had survived. Wilson v. Iowa Power & Light Co.,280 N.W.2d 372 (Iowa 1979). The cause is deemed to accrue to the decedent’s estate representativesat the time it would have accrued to the deceased if he had survived. Iowa Code § 611.22.
A counterclaim may be pled even if the statute of limitations for the claim has run, so long as the counterclaim (1) belonged to the party pleading it at the time the claim became barred, and (2) theclaim was not “barred at the time the claim sued on originated.” Iowa Code § 614.12. However, nojudgment on the counterclaim may be obtained other than for costs. Id. If the commencement of an action is stayed by injunction, the time of the injunction is not counted as part of the time in which the action must be brought. Iowa Code § 614.13.
Fraudulent concealment that prevents a plaintiff from discovering the facts that support his or her cause of action estops a defendant from using the statute of limitations as a defense. For instance,in a medical malpractice case, if a doctor lies about the cause of the injury, which in turn delays theplaintiff’s discovery of the actual cause of injury, the doctor cannot rely on the statute of limitationsdefense. Christy v. Miulli, 692 N.W.2d 694 (Iowa 2005).

References: § 614
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 § 85
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 § 670
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 § 611
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