LAWRENCE H. NASH, APPELLANT,
v.
H. LAWRENCE ASHER, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1977-02-18
No. 75-2007
CROSS, J., and MASON, ERNEST, Associate Judge, concur.
342 So. 2d 1038 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1977) Negative Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

The court considered whether a two-year statute of limitations for professional malpractice, enacted in 1975, should be given retroactive effect, and if the savings clause applied to the case.


Holding

The court determined that the two-year statute of limitations should not be given retroactive effect in this case, referencing prior medical malpractice cases and the Supreme Court's quashing of a similar decision.


Headnotes

[1] A statute of limitations may be retroactively applied to shorten the period for filing suit, provided the legislature clearly intends such retroactivity and allows a reas…

[2] A savings clause in a statute of limitations demonstrates legislative intent to provide a reasonable time for filing actions that would otherwise be barred by the new lim…

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Facts & Procedural History

The plaintiff filed a professional malpractice complaint in August 1975, for an action that arose on March 8, 1973. The statute of limitations changed…

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Opinion of the Court
SMITH, CULVER, Associate Judge.

SMITH, CULVER, Associate Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment entered by the trial court dismissing Plaintiffs complaint which alleged professional malpractice. Appellant was Plaintiff below and Appellee was the Defendant. They will be referred to as Plaintiff and Defendant.

The cause of action arose on March 8, 1973 and Plaintiff filed his complaint on August 8, 1975, well within the four year statute of limitations in effect when the action accrued, Section 95.11(4) Florida Statutes 1969, but more than two years after the effective date of the new two year statute, Section 95.11(4)(a) Florida Statutes 1975. The basic issue involved in this appeal is whether the two year statute of limitations should be given retroactive effect and, if so, whether the savings clause provided by Section 95.022 Florida Statutes, 1975 applies to the present case. Section 95.022 Florida Statutes 1975, the “savings clause” reads:

“This act shall become effective on January 1, 1975, but any action that will be barred when this act becomes effective and that would not have been barred under prior law may be commenced before January 1, 1976, and if it is not commenced by that date, the action shall be barred.”

Counsel have cited many cases to us concerning the retroactive application of statutes of limitation. Those concerned with malpractice were medical malpractice cases under Section 95.11(6) Florida Statutes, 1971. This statute did not have a “savings clause.” Since the briefs herein were filed, this Court decided the case of Harris v. Miles, 330 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976) which came before the Court on the following certified question:

“Is a plaintiff who brought suit on July 24th, 1974 whose cause of action for medical malpractice arose on or about September 23, 1970 now barred from prosecuting that claim by virtue of that certain amendment to F.S.A. § 95.11(6) changing the period of limitations applicable to such actions to two years?”

This was answered in the affirmative. This court, in an opinion by Judge Downey reviewed previous decisions of the Second District Court of Appeal and adopted the holding in Foley v. Morris, 325 So. 2d 37 (Fla.2d DCA 1976) in which that court stated:

“Therefore, we conclude that where the plaintiff has had the benefit of the entire new period of limitations to file suit on a pre-existing cause of action, application of the new statute is prospective in that the statutory change relates only to procedures to occur in the future. No substantive right has been impaired.”

It is noted that the court in Foley stated that the application of the statute was prospective only. This conclusion was approved by this court in Harris v. Miles, supra.

After oral argument was held in the ease now before the court, the Supreme Court of Florida on certiorari granted, quashed the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal in Foley, holding that the legislative intent to provide retroactive effect to Section 95.11(6) Florida Statutes, 1971 was not express, clear or manifest, Foley v. Morris, 339 So. 2d 215 (Fla.1976). Inherent in this decision is the finding that the application of the two year statute in Foley was retroactive.

We must now determine the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in Foley v. Morris on the ease we now have for decision. We believe that it has no bearing.

The decisions discussed in this opinion all involved the application of Section 95.11(6) Florida Statutes, 1971 which applied to medical malpractice. Our problem in the instant case concerns Sections 95.11(4)(a) and 95.022 Florida Statutes, 1975, general malpractice. There was no saving clause in the 1971 statutes. Section 95.022, 1975 is a saving clause. The Supreme Court in its decision in Foley held that the Legislature has authority to adopt a statute of limitations which retroactively shortens a period of limitation, provided a reasonable time is allowed by statute within which to file suit where there is manifest legislative intent to retrospectively shorten the period.

Section 95.022 clearly demonstrates the legislative intent to make 95.11(4)(a) retroactive, since it is a saving clause providing a reasonable time in which suits may be filed. Certainly the Plaintiff had a reasonable time in which to file his action after the passage of the statute. The trial judge correctly entered judgment for the Defendant.

AFFIRMED.

CROSS, J., and MASON, ERNEST, Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Carpenter v. Fla. Cent. Credit Union, 369 So. 2d 935 (Fla. 1979)
    …ions barred by the amendment a year from the effective date to file suit and preserve their rights. Section 95.022, Florida Statutes (1975). The very nature of a savings clause imparts retroactivity upon the statutes within its ambit. Nash v. Asher, 342 So. 2d 1038,1039 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977) (“[Section 95.022] clearly demonstrates the legislative intent to make [Section 95.-ll(4)(a)] retroactive, since it is a saving clause . . .”) (emphasis supplied); see Brooks v. Cerrato, 355 So. 2d 119, 120 (Fla. 4th DCA 197…
  • Worrell v. John F. Kennedy Mem'l Hosp., Inc., 384 So. 2d 897 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
    …n retroactive application to medical malpractice cases and that the saving clause (Section 95.022) was no indication of a retroactive intent regarding medical malpractice. We adhere to this ruling [*902] and recede from the holding of Nash v. Asher; 342 So. 2d 1038 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977), to the extent it is contrary.4 We thus hold that Section 95.11(6), Florida Statutes (1973), applies to this case and that the cause of action for death due to medical malpractice herein accrued at the time of the death. In doin…
  • Garofalo v. Cmty. Hosp. of S. Broward, 382 So. 2d 722 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
    …retroactively except for the saving clause in Section 95.022, Florida Statutes (1974), which has been asserted as an expression of such intent. The effect of the clause in medical malpractice cases has been considered by this court in Nash v. Asher, 342 So. 2d 1038 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977), and Brooks v. Cerrato, 355 So. 2d 119 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978). These cases reach inconsistent results and we hereby recede from [*725] the holding in Nash and adopt the holding in Brooks. Nash held 95.022 to be an effective express…

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