Court Opinion

ID: 9682620
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:14:55.611391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:40.447020
License: Public Domain

GONZALEZ, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would sustain appellant’s fifth and seventh points of error and hold that the two year statute of limitations deprives appellant of due process of law in violation of the Texas Constitution, article I, section 13, and the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.1
In the recent case of Sax v. Votteler, 648 S.W.2d 661 (Tex.1983), the Court struck down article 5.82, section 4 of the Insurance Code,2 as it applies to minors, on the ground that it is in violation of the Texas Constitution, article I, section 13, commonly known as the “Open Courts Provision.” In so doing, the Court declined to address the issue of violations of rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, being of the belief that such was unnecessary in that our State Open Courts Provision accords Texas citizens additional rights to those provided for in the United States Constitution. 648 S.W.2d at 664. The Open Courts Provision “is, quite plainly, a due process guarantee.” Id.
*262The question of the constitutional validity of an absolute two year statute of limitations as applied to adults was not before that Court. It is squarely before this one.
Generally, a State is free to prescribe a period of limitations within which claims must be asserted or be barred and such limitation does not constitute a denial of due process unless the time period is so short as to amount to a denial of a reasonable opportunity to enforce the claim. Kentucky Union Co. v. Kentucky, 219 U.S. 140, 31 S.Ct. 171, 55 L.Ed. 137 (1910). As stated by the United States Supreme Court in Wilson v. Iseminger, 185 U.S. 55, 22 S.Ct. 573, 46 L.Ed. 804 (1902):
“It may be properly conceded that all statutes of limitation must proceed on the idea that the party has full opportunity afforded him to try his right in the courts.... [W]hat shall be considered a reasonable time must be settled by the judgment of the legislature, and the courts will not inquire into the wisdom of its decision in establishing the period of legal bar, unless the time allowed is manifestly so insufficient that the statute becomes a denial of justice....
In all such cases the question is one of reasonableness, and we have, therefore, only to consider whether the time allowed in this statute is, under all the circumstances, reasonable. Of that the legislature is primarily the judge, and we cannot overrule the decision of that department of government, unless a palpable error has been committed. In judging of that, we must place ourselves in the position of the legislators, and must measure the time of limitations in the midst of the circumstances which surrounded them, as nearly as possible.... ” 185 U.S. at 62-3, 22 S.Ct. at 575-76.
A similar test is applied to determine the validity of a statute under our Open Courts Provision: does it unreasonably abridge a justifiable right to obtain redress for injuries caused by the wrongful acts of another so as to amount to a denial of due process? Sax v. Votteler, 648 S.W.2d at 665.
The primary purpose of the Act was to remedy or correct the climate created by a “medical malpractice crisis” which had arisen within our State. Article 4590i, Sec. 1.02(a)(5). While a number of factors were found to be at the root of this problem, i.e., the amounts being paid by insurers in judgments and settlements, the primary culprit appears to have been “a serious public problem in availability and affordability of adequate medical professional liability insurance ...." Id., Sec. 1.02(a)(4). All other causes enumerated were simply contributing factors to this problem. See Final Report of the Texas Medical Professional Liability Study Commission to the 65th Texas Legislature, pp. 3-6 (December 1976) (hereinafter “Study Commission”). In this regard, it is important to realize that many of the findings considered by the Legislature in drafting the Act were not based upon Texas experience. Study Commission, supra, p. 9.3 We need, then, some data for determining the reasonableness of Section 10.01.
As stated by then Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Mr. Casper Weinberger:
“There is a great deal of concern about medical liability insurance. There is very little definitive information to document or help us understand clearly the problem.” Hearings before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, 94th Congress, 1st Session, p. 319 (1975) (hereinafter “Senate Hearings”).
The medical malpractice problem is one of staggering proportions. In 1975, at the time that information was being compiled by the Study Commission, Dr. Roger O. Egeberg of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, estimat*263ed that as many as 700,000 injuries occur each year due to medical negligence. Lubbock Avalanche Journal, June 21, 1975, p. D-15. Another estimate placed this figure at 660,000 per year. Senate Hearings, supra, p. 176. This indicates that approximately 2.3% of all hospital admissions result in injuries to the patient due to medical negligence. Id. Additionally, data compiled by the American Insurance Association, an organization composed of some of the country’s major malpractice underwriters, reveals that “most malpractice incidents are not discovered until five or six years after the occurrence.” Id. at p. 489 (emphasis supplied).
I recognize that a balance of society’s needs with those of individual claimants must be struck, and “society is best served by a complete repose after a certain number of years even at the sacrifice of a few unfortunate cases.” Dunn v. St. Francis Hospital, Inc., supra, 401 A.2d 77 at 81 (Del.1979).
However, it is apparent that with an absolute two year statute of limitations, we are no longer in the realm of the “few unfortunate cases,” or the occasional meritorious claim being rendered nonassertable. Rather, such a provision serves to close our courts to the majority of a large class of claimants with no other forum for redress of their grievances. Such serves only to “place health care providers beyond public accountability.” Statement of Study Commission Member Harry Hubbard, Jr., Study Commission, supra, p. 70. Society’s best interests are no longer served. Therefore, I would hold the “absolute” two year statute of limitations unconstitutional because it is unreasonable and “manifestly so insufficient that [it] becomes a denial of justice .... ” Wilson v. Iseminger, supra.

. The constitutionality of the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act, in general, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4590i (Vernon Supp. 1982) and of Section 10.01 in particular, has been the subject of much discussion. Compare Redish, Legislative Response to the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis: Constitutional Implications, 55 Tex.L.R. 759 (1977) with Witherspoon, Constitutionality of the Texas Statute Limiting Liabitity for Medical Malpractice, 10 Tex.Tech.L.R. 419, 427 (1979).

. Tex.Rev.Stat.Ann. art. 4590i § 10.01 (Vernon’s Supp.1982) had as its predecessor, art. 5.82 § 4 of the Insurance Code.

. We note with interest the statement made by Dean Page Keeton, Chairman of the Study Commission, when testifying before a House Legislative Committee Seminar: “I would say our Study Commission simply hasn’t got the kind of data that we ought to have in order to say whether the rates [being charged by insurers for medical malpractice insurance in Texas] are justified.” Study Commission, supra, p. 71.