Opinion ID: 2833603
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pennsylvania’s Certificate of Merit

Text: Requirement As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recounted in Womer v. Hilliker, 908 A.2d 269 (Pa. 2006), the Supreme Court adopted the COM regime “in January of 2003, having determined that malpractice actions were being commenced in the Pennsylvania courts more frequently.” Id. at 275. With that recognition came concern that state courts would be overburdened with “malpractice claims of questionable merit.” Id. Thus, the Court “devise[d] an orderly procedure that would serve to identify and weed non-meritorious malpractice claims from the judicial system efficiently and promptly.” Id. The COM requirement was born. 4 The District Court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. We have jurisdiction to hear the appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Because the matter before us is a pure question of law, our review is plenary. See Foster v. Nat’l Fuel Gas Co., 316 F.3d 424, 430 (3d Cir. 2003). 6 Rule 1042.3 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, the centerpiece of the COM regime, requires that within sixty days of filing “any action based upon an allegation that a licensed professional deviated from an acceptable professional standard,” a plaintiff file a COM that states (1) “an appropriate licensed professional has supplied a written statement that there exists a reasonable probability that the care, skill or knowledge” of the defendant “fell outside acceptable professional standards and that such conduct was a cause in bringing about the harm”; (2) the claim is “based solely on allegations that other licensed professionals for whom this defendant is responsible deviated from an acceptable professional standard”; or (3) “expert testimony of an appropriate licensed professional is unnecessary for prosecution of the claim.” Pa.R.C.P. No. 1042.3(a)(1)-(3). The purpose of the requirement is to create a reasonable, early barrier that all malpractice plaintiffs must meet: On the one hand, the presence in the record of a COM signals to the parties and the trial court that the plaintiff is willing to attest to the basis of his malpractice claim; that he is in a position to support the allegations he has made in his professional liability action; and that resources will not be wasted if additional pleading and discovery take place. On the other hand, the absence from the record of a COM signals to the parties and the trial court that none of this is so and that nothing further should transpire in the action, except for the lawsuit’s termination. 7 Womer, 908 A.2d at 275-76 (internal footnote and citations omitted). That ultimate consequence of the failure to comply— termination of the suit—is effectuated in state court upon the filing of a praecipe with a prothonotary, who in turn enters a judgment of non pros.5 Pa.R.C.P. Nos. 1042.6-7. As originally written, the ability to seek dismissal for failure to file a COM had but one explicit condition: No dismissal could be entered if a plaintiff’s timely motion seeking to extend the sixty-day window was pending. Pa.R.C.P. No. 1042.6(a) (West 2003) (amended 2008).6