Court Opinion

ID: 9778708
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:16:49.764528+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:12.735872
License: Public Domain

HUTSON-DUNN, Justice,
dissenting.
Did the legislature unreasonably restrict the right of a minor to sue when it passed the Medical Liability Act, requiring the minor to file his cause of action prior to reaching 14 years of age? To determine the answer to this question we must address whether or not the restriction contained in the Medical Liability Act is unreasonable or arbitrary when balanced against the purpose and basis of the statute. Sax v. Votteler, 648 S.W.2d 661, 666 (Tex.1983).
The legislature specifically mandated that the medical liability act apply to all persons regardless of minority or other legal disability. The majority relies on Sax, a supreme court decision in which the court considered whether or not the former medical liability statute, former article 5.82, § 4, of the Texas Insurance Code, which required a minor to file his or her action prior to reaching eight years of age, holding the section unconstitutional as it applied to minors. I do not feel that the Sax decision, which concerned whether eight years was unreasonable when balanced against the purpose of the statute, is dispositive of the fact that the new statute which increases the period in which a minor can file to 14 years, is unconstitutional.
The majority agrees with Sax that the purpose and basis for the medical liability act are legitimate. Id. at 667. I agree with the majority in this respect.
One of the reasons Sax uses to justify the second criteria, i.e., that the restriction is unreasonable or arbitrary when balanced against the purpose, is that it is neither reasonable, nor realistic to rely on parents to bring a timely suit who may themselves be minors. Id. at 667. I agree.
The legislature evidently felt that this argument was reasonable also and immediately addressed this argument and changed the statute to extend the time in which minors may file to 14 years of age. A parent would have to have a child at three to four years of age to substantiate this argument under the new statute. The legislature in its wisdom felt, and I would agree, that this extension to 14 years of age is a fair and reasonable balance between the minor child’s rights and the need that we all agree exists for such a statute.
The supreme court has not addressed the matter with which the court was concerned in Sax since the new medical liability statute became effective. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4590i, § 10.01 (Vernon Pamph.1994).
I would hold that the present medical liability statute is neither unreasonable nor arbitrary when balanced against the purpose and basis of the statute.
I dissent and I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.