Rice v. Ragsdale, No. CA08-186.
After the death of Winston Rice, Sr., plaintiffs hired the defendant attorneys to represent them in a medical negligence case. The defendant attorneys failed to obtain appointment of a personal representative of the estate or join all of the wrongful-death beneficiaries. After the statute of limitations ran on the medical malpractice claims, the defendant doctors filed motions for summary judgment, which were granted.
Plaintiffs then brought legal malpractice cases against the defendant attorneys, alleging that they were negligent for making the above-described error. The defendant attorneys filed a motion for summary judgment because the statute of limitations had ran on plaintiffs’ negligence claim against the defendant attorneys. Under current Arkansas law, the statute of limitations for negligence claims begins to run at the time of the occurrence, which is known as the “occurrence rule.”
On appeal, plaintiffs urged the Arkansas Court of Appeals to adopt the “discovery rule” because they had no way of knowing that the medical malpractice statute of limitations had run until their case was dismissed. Under the “occurrence rule,” the legal negligence statute of limitations (three years) began to run when the medical malpractice statute of limitations (two years) expired. The court rejected this argument and noted it was bound by decisions by the Arkansas Supreme Court dating back to 1877. The court emphasized, however, that the general assembly was the appropriate entity to change the statute of limitations as they are statutory creatures.
