A unanimous decision earlier this year by the Iowa Supreme Court serves as a cautionary tale for those considering a wrongful death lawsuit – or any kind of lawsuit where there are statutes of limitations involved.
It’s never a good idea to wait until the deadline is approaching. Evidence can be lost or destroyed, and witnesses can disappear, die or simply forget what happened. Further, as in this case, any dispute about when the “clock” started on the statute of limitations can potentially lead to the case being dismissed, regardless of the merits.
The case before the court
The case before the state’s high court involved the death of a woman due to complications from an injury suffered in an Ottumwa hospital, where she had undergone knee replacement surgery. The woman’s doctor failed to detect that she had fractured her knee when a nurse fell on her while helping her to the restroom. It wasn’t until she further injured the fractured knee in another fall at the hospital that the original fracture was diagnosed.
The fracture caused fatty deposits (emboli) to go into her bloodstream, which caused “acute respiratory failure with hypoxia due to pulmonary embolism and fall.” She was moved to a different hospital, where her condition worsened and she passed away.
Did the statute of limitations clock restart upon death?
The woman’s estate filed a medical malpractice wrongful death suit exactly two years following her death. The defendants argued that the statute of limitations expired two years from the date she first complained of knee pain two weeks prior and the fracture wasn’t diagnosed, despite the fact that it was x-rayed or at most a few days later.
The lower court ruled for the defendants, agreeing with their argument that the suit was filed after the statute of limitations expired. The high court was asked to determine whether the statute of limitations “clock” continued running from the date she and her family knew or should have known of the injury that eventually led to her death or if it “restarted” upon her death.
“Derivative” wrongful death claims
The justices stated in their ruling that under Iowa law, wrongful death claims are “derivative.” That means if the injury and the cause of the injury are known while a person is still alive, the clock doesn’t restart when they die. Thus, the court agreed with the lower court’s decision that the suit was “time-barred.”
In most cases, it’s not necessary to wait close to two years to take action to hold another party liable for a wrongful death or any kind of injury and risk having a valid case be dismissed, as this one was. If you believe you may have a wrongful death case, the best thing to do is get legal guidance as early as possible to seek justice and compensation.