Title: Skeen v. Sisters of St. Joseph
Citation: 194 Kan. 212, 398 P.2d 587
Docket Number: 43,897
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: January 23, 1965

194 Kan. 212 (1965)
398 P.2d 587
JOSEPHINE SKEEN, Appellee,
v.
THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF WICHITA, KANSAS, a Corporation, Appellant.
No. 43,897

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed January 23, 1965.
L.D. Klenda, of Wichita, argued the cause, and Emmet A. Blaes, Roetzel Jochems, Robert G. Braden, J. Francis Hesse, James W. Sargent, Stanley E. Wisdom, Cecil E. Markel, Harry L. Hobson, Bruce W. Zuercher, Charles M. Cline, Richard A. Loyd, and Stephen M. Blaes, all of Wichita, were with him on the briefs for the appellant.
Mearle D. Mason, of Wichita, argued the cause and Theodore H. Hill and Richard L. Fox, both of Wichita, were with him on the briefs for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
PARKER, C.J.:
This case stems from an action for damages for alleged malpractice on the part of a hospital. The appeal is from orders of the district court denying a motion to quash the service of summons and overruling a demurrer to the amended petition.
The facts necessary to present the issues may be stated briefly.
On June 24, 1963, the plaintiff, Josephine Skeen, filed a petition for injuries alleged to have occurred on July 3, 1961, of which she was fully aware on July 9, 1961. The allegations of the petition identifying the defendant read:
The praecipe for summons, so far as here material, states:
*213 Summons was issued and served in accord with the request in the praecipe on June 26, 1963. A motion to quash the service of summons was filed July 23, 1963, and sustained on August 5, 1963. The court's action with respect to the motion is reflected by a journal entry which reads:
Plaintiff filed an amended petition on August 12, 1963, containing the same allegations as the original petition except "The Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, Kansas, a corporation," was named as the defendant. An alias summons was issued and served on the newly designated defendant on August 19, 1963. A motion to quash the service of the alias summons was filed on September 11, 1963, and overruled on September 30, 1963. Subsequently, and on October 11, 1963, a demurrer was filed by the defendant attacking the petition on the ground that the action was barred by the statute of limitations. This demurrer was overruled on October 21, 1963. Thereupon the defendant perfected the instant appeal presenting the following points as grounds for reversal of the trial court's rulings:
We shall first consider whether the statute of limitations ran on appellee's cause of action as of July 9, 1963. If so, the determination of that question will dispose of the entire controversy.
It would seem clear that a petition filed against one party defendant cannot be amended after the running of the statute of limitations to name an entirely new party as defendant.
The fact that the two year statute of limitations (G.S. 1949, 60-306, Third.) applies is not disputed. Since the injury occurred not later than July 9, 1961, the action must have been commenced on or before July 9, 1963. An action cannot be deemed commenced until a petition is filed (G.S. 1949, 60-301) naming a defendant upon which service of summons is to be had. (G.S. 1949, 60-308.)
*214 Appellee contends that since she filed her original action on June 24, 1963, the amended petition filed August 12, 1963, which substituted "The Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, Kansas, a corporation" for "St. Joseph Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, a corporation" as defendant, related back to the original petition preventing a bar by the statute of limitations. Appellant relies upon the case of Russell v. American Rock Crusher Co., 181 Kan. 891, 317 P.2d 847, where the name of the defendant was changed from "J.A. Tobin" to "J.E. Tobin." In that case this court stated:
The above case, permitting the correction of the middle initial of a defendant, cannot be regarded as authority for amending a petition to add an entirely different named defendant.
This court has approved the general rule that where there is an amendment of a petition bringing in new parties defendant the statute of limitations continues to run in their favor until thus made parties. (Challis v. Hartloff, 133 Kan. 221, 223, 299 Pac. 586.)
The question now under consideration was before this court in Wyckoff v. Bennett, 191 Kan. 180, 380 P.2d 332, where early decisions were reviewed as follows:
"In Challis v. Hartloff, supra, it was said:
"In Challis v. Hartloff, supra, it was said:
*215 "In Anderson v. Railroad Co., supra, it was held:
Under the authority of the long line of decisions cited in Wyckoff v. Bennett, supra, and what is there stated and held, we are impelled to conclude there was such a dissimilarity in the named defendants that the amended petition did not relate back to the original and the cause of action against the defendant, "The Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, Kansas, a corporation," was barred by the statute of limitations before it was ever named as a defendant in the action.
The judgment is reversed with instructions to sustain the demurrer to the amended petition.