When is a Premises Claim a Medical Negligence Claim?

Today, the Texas Supreme Court handed down an opinion reversing a decision by the Dallas Court of Appeals which in turn had reversed a trial court’s dismissal of a nursing home resident’s claims on limitations grounds. In the underlying case, the resident alleged that she was sexually assaulted in a nursing home and asserted what she characterized as premises liability claims against the home. The claims were more than five years old when brought, but since all parties agreed that the plaintiff was mentally incapacitated, the plaintiff claimed that section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code tolled limitations.

The nursing home, on the other hand, asserted that the plaintiff’s claims were really medical malpractice claims, since the plaintiff’s allegations were allegations that the nursing home breached its standard of care by negligently supervising the plaintiff’s treatment. In a medical negligence case, there is no tolling provision in cases of mental incapacity, so the nursing home claimed that limitations barred the plaintiff’s claim.

The trial court agreed with the home and granted its motion for summary judgment, but the Court of Appeals in Dallas reversed, stating that the claims were not medical but were instead plain-vanilla premises liability claims.

The six-justice majority (actually five and a half, as Justice Jefferson only joined in part of the majority opinion) agreed with the trial court, and held that the allegations were essentially medical negligence allegations, so there was no tolling of limitations.

Justice Jefferson disagreed with the majority in its characterization of the plaintiff’s claims as medical negligence claims, but he agreed with the result. According to Justice Jefferson, the plaintiff’s premises claims are barred by limitations as they were claims that the home departed from “accepted standards of safety” as contemplated by the former article 4590i (now CPRC Section 74.001(a)(13)). Accordingly, they are governed by the limitations rules of medical claims, and so there is no tolling in the case of incapacity. However, according to Justice Jefferson, they are still premises claims, so had they not been time-barred, the plaintiff should not have had to meet the heightened standard of proof demanded in medical cases.

Finally, Justice O’Neill wrote a dissent on behalf of herself and two other Justices. She argued that some of the plaintiff’s claims had absolutely nothing to do with the nursing home’s medical treatment or judgment, so those claims ought to have sounded in ordinary negligence and not been governed by the rules which control medical claims.

Cause No. 02-0849, Goliad Manor v. Rubio

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