Court Opinion

ID: 9737432
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:24:58.91749+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:58.873160
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Justice,
concurring in result.
I believe that precedent-dictates that the Medical Malpractice Act’s statute of limitations does not violate either art. I, § 12, or art. I, § 23, of the Indiana Constitution. Havens v. Ritchey, 582 N.E.2d 792, 795 (Ind. 1991) (after affirming constitutionality of the Medical Malpractice Act’s statute of limitations, holding: “It is thus beyond dispute that [plaintiffs’] medical malpractice action had to be brought within two years of the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect.”); Rohrabaugh v. Wagoner, 274 Ind. 661, 663-68, 413 N.E.2d 891, 893-95 (1980); Johnson v. St. Vincent Hosp., 273 Ind. 374, 403-06, 404 N.E.2d 585, 603-04 (1980); Jones v. Cloyd, 534 N.E.2d 257, 259-60 (Ind.Ct.App.1989); Nahmias v. Trustees of Indiana Univ., 444 N.E.2d 1204, 1210 (Ind.Ct.App.1983), trans, denied; Carmichael v. Silbert, 422 N.E.2d 1330, 1334 (Ind.Ct.App.1981), trans. denied.
I think the strongest precedent the majority cites for its position is City of Fort Wayne v. Cameron, 267 Ind. 329, 370 N.E.2d 338 (1977). But in examining the case law since Cameron, I find at least implicit rejection of it as authority for constitutionalizing the discovery rule in medical malpractice cases. Eaeh of the decisions I have cited in the preceding paragraph as precedent was decided after Cameron. Each explicitly or implicitly rejected the claim that the Medical Malpractice Act’s statute of limitations violated art. I, § 12, without finding Cameron applicable. In 1980, Judge Chipman raised the possibility that Cameron might apply in precisely this situation. See Alwood v. Davis, 411 N.E.2d 759, 761 (Ind.Ct.App.1980). Yet neither our Court nor the Court of Appeals in our respective subsequent decisions has seen fit to use Cameron to constitutionalize the discovery rule in medical malpractice cases.1
I concur that summary judgment in favor of the defendant was improper, however, because I agree with the Court of Appeals that there were genuine issues of material fact concerning whether the statute of limitations was tolled by the doctrine of active fraudulent concealment. Martin v. Richey, 674 N.E.2d 1015, 1029 (Ind.Ct.App.1997).2

. None of Judge Riley in this case, Judge Barteau in Harris v. Raymond, 680 N.E.2d 551 (Ind.Ct.App.1997), nor Judge Friedlander in his dissent in Johnson v. Gupta, 682 N.E.2d 827 (Ind.Ct.App.1997) (Friedlander, J., dissenting), cite Cameron as authority.

. As a general rule, if we are able to resolve a case on non-constitutional grounds, we do not proceed to resolve the constitutional issues presented. Indiana Wholesale Wine & Liquor v. State, 695 N.E.2d 99, 107 (Ind.1998); Citizens Nat'l Bank of Evansville v. Foster, 668 N.E.2d 1236, 1241 (Ind.1996). Given that we are presented with companion cases that do not appear *1286to be able to be resolved on non-constitutional grounds, I agree that it is appropriate to proceed to the constitutional issues here.