Sybil Newton, Amber Whillock, Joe Miller and, Allison Adams filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus, which was accepted and granted by the Alabama Supreme Court, resulting in a writ directing the trial court to dismiss all of the Plaintiffs’ claims against the Defendants as barred by the statutes of limitations and repose in Ala. Code § 6-5-482.
The underlying case involved medical malpractice claims by the Plaintiffs alleging the Defendants negligently and wantonly failed to screen Ms. Morgan for retinopathy and/or vision loss while she was taking the drug Plaquenil. The Defendants argued the face of the Complaint demonstrated the Plaintiffs’ claims were time-barred (and that the denial of their Motion to Dismiss was therefore mandamusable under Ex parte Hodge). The Alabama Supreme Court agreed, holding Ms. Morgan’s cause of action accrued when she first suffered a legal injury (i.e. developed “retinal toxicity”) however slight and regardless of whether her condition later worsened. The Court agreed that the face of the Complaint described a medically identifiable legal injury outside of the statutory period, reiterating that a cause of action accrues when the first legal injury occurs. The Court rejected the Plaintiffs’ arguments that (1) the denial of a motion to dismiss was not properly mandamusable, and (2) legal injury did not occur until Ms. Morgan developed “severe” vision loss.
