Personal Injury Law

Case Law Update: Statute of Limitation Under Tort Immunity Act

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Kaufmann v. Jersey Community Hospital, No. 4-08-0909 (12-8-09) affirmed that a one-year statute of limitations, rather than two-year statute should be applied to bar patient's claim against community hospital, under the Tort Immunity Act, because claims against the hospital for physician's deviant sexual act while she was sedated for examination did not arise out of patient care, but out of the physician's own desire for sexual gratification. Equitable tolling was found to be inapplicable; even though patient waited to file suit per request of State Police during their investigation, when physician was indicted several months remained when patient could have filed within one-year statute of limitations, and patient was under no legal disability. This case will have a huge impact on how the Tort Immunity Act is applied in Illinois.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on January 04, 2010 (boomark / email).