Media & Insights
December 11, 2023
Plaintiff was rear-ended by an ambulance driven by an emergency medical technician who was transporting a patient between medical facilities. Plaintiff sued the driver and his employer for negligence. Defendants moved for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiff’s claims were barred by the one-year statute of limitations in the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). The trial court granted the motion, and plaintiff appealed.
The Court of Appeal affirmed in a 2-1 decision. The majority held that the MICRA limitations period barred plaintiff’s negligence claim because defendants were medical providers rendering professional services at the time of the accident. MICRA applied because plaintiff was injured by the ambulance driver’s alleged negligent driving of an ambulance transporting a patient: “transporting a patient in an ambulance qualifies as the provision of medical care . . . [and] driving the ambulance is an integral part of that care.” Moreover, the fact that plaintiff was a third party not receiving medical care was irrelevant because MICRA is not limited to lawsuits by patients or recipients of medical services.
