Opinion ID: 2210412
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Open Courts Law Clause, Article I, Section 12

Text: In addition to arguing that the medical malpractice statute of limitations violates Article I, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution, plaintiff also argues that it violates Article I, Section 12 of the Indiana Constitution. Plaintiff and its amici would have us broadly hold that Section 12 creates a fundamental right of access to the courts and a fundamental right to a complete tort remedy, and that the occurrence-based medical malpractice statute of limitations effectively abrogates those rights. In framing their arguments, they invite us to explore the outer bounds of the protections Section 12 affords litigants. Defendant and its amici, on the other hand, assert that Section 12 creates no such rights, fundamental or otherwise, that the legislature can abolish any cause of action for any reason, and that we are bound by precedent to uphold the trial court's decision rejecting plaintiff's claim as untimely under the statute. The Court of Appeals held that Section 12 recognizes two independent rights: the right of access to the courts and the right to a complete tort remedy. 674 N.E.2d at 1025. The Court of Appeals further held that the occurrence-based medical malpractice statute of limitations is an unconstitutional abrogation of the right to a complete tort remedy as guaranteed by [A]rticle I, [Section]12 of the Indiana Constitution, 674 N.E.2d at 1026, and declared that the statute of limitations was unconstitutional. Id. at 1027. We reject plaintiff's invitation to explore the outer bounds of Section 12 in this case. We also reject defendant's invitation to hold that the legislature can abolish any cause of action for any reason without violating Section 12. Rather, consistent with applicable jurisprudential principles, we decline to formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts at issue. See Indiana Wholesale Wine & Liquor Co. v. State ex rel. Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Comm'n, 695 N.E.2d 99, 108 (Ind.1998) (citing Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U.S. 288, 347, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring)). Moreover, although we agree with the Court of Appeals that plaintiff was deprived of the protections afforded her under Section 12, we, again, do not find it necessary to strike down the statute. Giving due deference to the function of the legislature and to its enactment, we simply conclude that, under Section 12, the medical malpractice statute of limitations is unconstitutional as applied. Section 12 provides that All courts shall be open; and every person for injury done to him in his person, property, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law. Justice shall be administered freely, and without purchase; completely and without denial; speedily, and without delay. IND. CONST. art. I, § 12. This Court has analyzed the Article 1, Section 12 language all courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done to him ... shall have remedy by due course of law, in a number of cases referenced in the briefs of the parties and their amici. [10] Contrary to plaintiff's assertion, we have not held that there is a fundamental right of access to the courts or to bring a particular cause of action to remedy an asserted wrong. See Rohrabaugh, 413 N.E.2d at 893. Moreover, the legislature has the authority to modify or abrogate common law rights provided that such change does not interfere with constitutional rights. See, e.g., State v. Rendleman, 603 N.E.2d 1333, 1336 (Ind.1992) (upholding Tort Claims Act; reasoning that the right to sue the State arose under the common law, not the Constitution); Sidle v. Majors, 264 Ind. 206, 341 N.E.2d 763, 773-74 (1976) (upholding automobile guest statute which limited a guest's right to sue to situations involving misconduct). We also have specifically upheld the medical malpractice statute of limitations against a facial challenge that it is unconstitutional under both Section 23 and Section 12, and, in so doing, we have emphasized that, although the statute of limitations may limit the substantive right that gives rise to a claim, it does not abrogate the right to seek redress in court because the bar does not fall until a reasonable time for filing has expired. See Rohrabaugh, 413 N.E.2d at 893. This Court has acknowledged, however, that there is a right of access to the courts, and that the legislature cannot unreasonably deny citizens the right to exercise this right. See State ex rel. Hurd v. Davis, 226 Ind. 526, 533, 82 N.E.2d 82, 85 (1948); Square D. Co. v. O'Neal, 225 Ind. 49, 55-56, 72 N.E.2d 654, 657 (1947). Similarly, we have reasoned that the legislature cannot deprive a person of a complete tort remedy arbitrarily and unreasonably, consistent with the protections Section 12 affords, and that legislation which restricts such a right must be a rational means to achieve a legitimate legislative goal. See Johnson, 404 N.E.2d at 598-600 (upholding the constitutionality of provisions of the Medical Malpractice Act; citing Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Envtl. Study Group, Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 82-92, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978)). We also have suggested that to construe the medical malpractice statute as precluding all malpractice actions under all circumstances unless commenced within two years from the act complained of (discoverable or otherwise) would raise substantial questions under the Article I, Section 12 guarantee of open courts and redress for injury to every man, not to mention the offense to lay concepts of justice. Chaffin v. Nicosia, 261 Ind. 698, 703-04, 310 N.E.2d 867, 870 (1974). Moreover, we have squarely held that, under Section 12, an occurrence-based notice provision, which requires, as a prerequisite to filing suit against the city, that plaintiff give notice to the city within sixty days of the incident, was unconstitutional as applied to a plaintiff who was mentally and physically incapacitated during the statutory notice period. City of Fort Wayne v. Cameron, 267 Ind. 329, 334, 370 N.E.2d 338, 341 (1977). We need not fully explore the nature and the extent of the right of access to the courts or any other rights conferred by Section 12, because, in this case, it cannot be questioned that, had plaintiff filed her medical malpractice claim within the two-year period, she could have pursued her otherwise valid tort claim. Certainly defendant points to nothing in the Medical Malpractice Act that would preclude her from doing so. The sole question here, then, is whether, given the existence of a tort cause of action, the medical malpractice statute of limitations can be applied to deprive plaintiff of her otherwise valid claim. Even a restrained interpretation of Section 12 warrants the conclusion that an application of the two-year statute of limitations on the facts of this case violates both Section 12 and lay concepts of justice. Chaffin, 310 N.E.2d at 870. [11] If Section 12 has any meaning at all, it must preclude the application of a two-year medical malpractice statute of limitations when a plaintiff has no meaningful opportunity to file an otherwise valid tort claim within the specified statutory time period because, given the nature of the asserted malpractice and the resulting injury or medical condition, plaintiff is unable to discover that she has a cause of action. Stated another way, the medical malpractice statute of limitations is unconstitutional as applied when plaintiff did not know or, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, could not have discovered that she had sustained an injury as a result of malpractice, because in such a case the statute of limitations would impose an impossible condition on plaintiff's access to courts and ability to pursue an otherwise valid tort claim. To hold otherwise would be to require a plaintiff to bring a claim for medical malpractice before becoming aware of her injury and damages, an essential element of any negligence claim, and this indeed would be boarding the bus to topsy-turvy land. [12] This approach to analyzing plaintiff's claim is consistent with the approach taken in other jurisdictions which have provisions similar to Section 12 in their state constitutions. See, e.g., McCollum v. Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Health Corp., 799 S.W.2d 15 (Ky. 1990); Gaines v. Preterm-Cleveland, Inc., 33 Ohio St.3d 54, 514 N.E.2d 709 (1987); Hardy v. VerMeulen, 32 Ohio St.3d 45, 512 N.E.2d 626 (1987); Hellman v. Mateo, 772 S.W.2d 64, 66 (Tex.1989); Neagle v. Nelson, 685 S.W.2d 11, 12 (Tex.1985); Nelson v. Krusen, 678 S.W.2d 918 (Texas 1984); Felan v. Ramos, 857 S.W.2d 113 (Tex.App.1993). [13] There can be no question here that plaintiff was unaware that she had a malignancy and that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes until April 1994, over three years after defendant performed the needle aspiration and informed her that she had fibrocystic breast disease and was fine and approximately eighteen months after her last visit to his office. To require plaintiff under these circumstances to file her claim before the expiration of the two-year medical malpractice statute of limitations would require her to file a claim before she was aware of the malpractice and the resulting injury and would impose an impossible condition on her access to the courts and pursuit of a tort remedy. In other words, it would require her to file a claim before such claim existed. This application of the medical malpractice statute of limitations is so unreasonable as to violate Section 12. We therefore conclude that, under Section 12, the medical malpractice statute of limitations is unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff.