Opinion ID: 1613536
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether incompetency bars application of the mtca's one-year statute of limitations.

Text: ¶ 31. If the MTCA applies to this case, the defendants/appellees contend that Bennett's claims are barred by the one-year statute of limitations. In response, Bennett contends that insanity bars application of the MTCA's statute of limitations, as it is unconscionable to require persons who are insane to comply timely with the MTCA. In support, he refers the Court to Annotation, Mental Incompetency as Obviating Effect of Failure to Comply with Provisions of Workmen's Compensation Act as to Giving Notice or Other Procedural Matters, 91 A.L.R. 1400 (1926), and to 51 Am.Jur.2d Limitations of Actions §§ 229-34 (2000), but cites no other authority. ¶ 32. To support their contention that the MTCA applies to incompetents, both Drs. Ali and Madakasira rely upon Hays v. Lafayette County Sch. Dist., 759 So.2d 1144 (Miss.1999), and Marcum v. Hancock County Sch. Dist., 741 So.2d 234, 238 (Miss.1999), in which we held that the disability of a minor does not toll the statute of limitations under the MTCA. We find that this issue is procedurally barred because Bennett raises it for the first time on appeal. However, because the issue raises important public policy considerations, we will address the merits. ¶ 33. In Marcum, we held that the statute of limitations contained in the MTCA was the exclusive measure of time to be applied to any claim brought under the MTCA. The minor savings provision contained in a separate chapter of the Code only addressed actions listed in that same chapter. [4] It did not apply to the MTCA. [5] Id. The procedural stricture mandated by the MTCA, moreover, is a one-year statute of limitations provision in § 11-46-11, which reads in relevant part: (3) All actions brought under the provisions of this chapter shall be commenced within one (1) year next after the date of the tortious, wrongful or otherwise actionable conduct on which the liability phase of the action is based, and not after; provided, however, that the filing of a notice of claim as required by subsection (1) of this section shall serve to toll the statute of limitations for a period of ninety-five (95) days. The limitations period provided herein shall control and shall be exclusive in all actions subject to and brought under provisions of this chapter, notwithstanding the nature of the claim, the label or other characterization the claimant may use to describe it, or the provisions of any other statute of limitations which would otherwise govern the type of claim or legal theory if it were not subject to or brought under the provisions of this chapter. (Emphasis added.) The same analysis applies to persons with disabilities. Though Bennett's argument is not without merit. See Eubanks v. Clarke, 434 F.Supp. 1022 (E.D.Pa.1977) (it is unreasonable to expect involuntary committed mental patients to assert their right while they are institutionalized because it would be unconscionable to allow state employee who violate civil rights of such mental patients under their care to escape federally created liability), our insistence upon strict compliance with the MTCA and the statute of limitations suggests there is no bar to its application here because of Bennett's insanity. Cole v. State, 608 So.2d 1313 (Miss.1992) (courts will not read exceptions into statute of limitations which applies to persons of mental incompetency or incapacity). See also Hays, 759 So.2d at 1148; Marcum, 741 So.2d at 238. This claim is without merit.