Opinion ID: 2598187
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The district court erred in dismissing Mercy's petition for judicial review as untimely.

Text: Mercy argues that the district court erred by dismissing its petition for judicial review as untimely. Mercy contends that the statutes governing review by the Panel provide for a tolling of the statute of limitations. Therefore, Mercy asserts, because it had a total of twenty-eight days within which to file a petition, and it used fourteen of those days prior to sending the Board's decision to the Panel, the remaining fourteen days could not begin to run until after the thirty-day stay provided by I.C. § 31-3554. Mercy argues that as such its petition was timely filed. The district court concluded that Mercy's petition was untimely. It reasoned: Following the Board's final order on April 6, 2005, Petitioner filed a request for prelitigation consideration on April 20, 2005. Assuming this stopped the statute of limitations from running within the 28 days mandated for petitioning judicial review, [Mercy] then had 30 days following the determination of the prelitigation screening board to file its petition. Here the screening Panel issued its findings on September 13, 2005; however, the petition was not filed until October 18, well outside the 30 day limit. The district court's conclusion is contrary to the plain language of the statutes governing the Panel. First, I.C. § 31-3554 provides: There shall be no judicial or other review or appeal of such matters. No party shall be obligated to comply with or otherwise be affected or prejudiced by the proposals, conclusions or suggestions of the panel or any member or segment thereof; however, in the interest of due consideration being given to such proceedings and in the interest of encouraging consideration of claims informally and without the necessity of litigation, the applicable statute of limitations shall be tolled and not deemed to run during the time that such a claim is pending before the panel and for thirty (30) days thereafter.