Opinion ID: 806790
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: “Series of Steps”

Text: Nuveen argues that, in holding that it did not take a “series of steps” necessary for substantial compliance, the District Court overlooked its actions to verify the merit of its complaint. Nuveen highlights that it conducted an 18-monthlong investigation to support its allegations, which allowed it 43 to submit a detailed complaint. During this extensive investigation, it consulted two experts who later submitted affidavits, one of whom provided it with a 16-page report before it filed the complaint. It also notes that it provided Withum and Lindabury the affidavits one day after they filed their motions to dismiss. Though Nuveen may have researched its complaint and scrambled to correct its mistake regarding the affidavits, its failure to take some action to comply with the affidavit requirement before the AOM Statute’s deadline expired appears fatal here. A review of New Jersey Supreme Court cases discussing substantial compliance reveals that the “series of steps” element requires some effort by the plaintiff to provide the defendant with a statement of a professional discussing the merits of the action by the expiration of the 120-day period. See, e.g., Ferreira, 836 A.2d at 784 (declining to find substantial compliance where “[p]laintiff’s counsel did not, within the statutory time frame, take steps to forward the affidavit to opposing counsel”); Palanque v. Lambert-Woolley, 774 A.2d 501, 506 (N.J. 2001) (“In both Galik and Fink, the plaintiffs took a series of steps that notified the defendants about the merits of the malpractice claims filed against them. Here, no such action was taken. Plaintiff obtained an expert report but did not provide the report or an affidavit to defendant. The action taken by plaintiff falls short of meeting the elements of substantial compliance.”); Fink, 772 A.2d at 386 (finding a “series of steps” where plaintiff served a timely affidavit that did not identify one of the defendant-professionals, but identified “unknown” professionals, and also provided a pre-suit expert report in which the unidentified defendant-professional was mentioned by name); Galik, 771 A.2d at 1151 (finding a “series of steps” where “[p]laintiff retained an expert before filing suit, forwarded the medical records to the expert, obtained both an initial and a supplementary expert report, 44 and sent both to defendants’ carriers who attempted to settle the case on defendants’ behalf”); Burns, 766 A.2d at 1101 (finding substantial compliance where affidavit was served after 60 days, but before 120 days, after the answer, and only after defendants filed motions to dismiss); Cornblatt, 708 A.2d at 411–12 (finding substantial compliance where plaintiff served a certification instead of an affidavit). These decisions comport with the AOM Statute’s goal of weeding out frivolous lawsuits by providing defendants with independent opinions of the actions. See Chamberlain, 210 F.3d at 610. As long as a defendant receives timely (that is, within the time allowed by the Statute) an opinion in the form of a document or combination of documents authored by a non-party discussing the merits of the action as to each defendant, the plaintiff will have fulfilled the “series of steps” element of substantial compliance. Nuveen communicated with two professionals before it filed the complaint. One professional provided it with a report; the other merely discussed the potential action on the telephone. Nuveen did not provide the report to Withum and Lindabury, and did not file it with the complaint. It also did not obtain the affidavits until more than 120 days after Withum and Lindabury filed their answers. The result is that it did not timely provide Withum and Lindabury with independent verification that the allegations in the complaint were sufficient to state causes of action for malpractice. Nuveen’s failure to engage in a “series of steps” undermines its argument that it substantially complied with the Statute.