Background
Thomas Williams, individually and on behalf of Hilda Williams, pursued medical-malpractice claims arising from alleged acts, omissions, or neglect. He requested a medical review panel twenty days before the applicable one-year prescriptive period otherwise would have expired on April 21, 2022.
The medical review panel’s term was extended by court order through August 9, 2024, but the panel did not issue an opinion by that date. Williams later filed an amended or supplemental petition on December 12, 2024, naming BHC HoldCo, LLC, doing business as Bayou Home Care of Louisiana, LLC, and Continental Casualty Company as defendants. The district court denied those defendants’ exception of prescription, and they sought supervisory review.
The Court’s Holding
The Louisiana Court of Appeal granted the writ, reversed the district court’s April 28, 2026 judgment, and held that the claims against BHC HoldCo and Continental Casualty were prescribed. Under Louisiana’s Medical Malpractice Act, the panel dissolved by operation of law when the court-ordered extension expired on August 9, 2024, because it had not rendered an opinion. Formal notice of dissolution was not required.
The suspension of prescription ceased ninety days later, on November 7, 2024. Because twenty days remained in the original prescriptive period when Williams requested the medical review panel, he had twenty additional days—through November 27, 2024—to name the defendants. His December 12 filing was therefore untimely. The appellate court granted the exception of prescription and dismissed the claims against BHC HoldCo and Continental Casualty. Judge Greene dissented and would have denied the writ.
Key Takeaways
- A medical review panel that fails to issue an opinion before a court-ordered extension expires dissolves by operation of law.
- Formal notice of dissolution is not required when the panel’s court-ordered extension has expired.
- Prescription resumed ninety days after the extension expired, and the plaintiff then had only the twenty days remaining from the original prescriptive period to name the defendants.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores that medical-malpractice claimants must calculate prescription from the expiration of a medical review panel’s court-ordered extension rather than wait for formal notice that the panel has dissolved. Once the statutory ninety-day suspension period ends, only the unused portion of the original prescriptive period remains.
Attorneys handling Louisiana medical-malpractice matters should therefore track panel-extension deadlines independently and promptly add all intended healthcare-provider and insurer defendants before the remaining prescriptive time expires.