A medical malpractice lawsuit involving brain damage to a child during delivery has been reinstated by the Nevada Supreme Court. At issue was the statute of limitations, which the lower court judge ruled had expired after four years and consequently dismissed the case.

However, the Nevada Supreme Court stated that the statute of limitations is 10 years when the malpractice involves a birth injury such as brain damage. The victim in the case suffered a scalpel laceration to his head during his birth in May 1995. He was born by Caesarean section.

The boy’s mother filed a lawsuit against two doctors, one of whom has settled out of court. The case against the other doctor will return to the District Court.

Statutes of Limitations Vary

This case provides an excellent example of how widely medical malpractice statutes of limitations may vary. Though most states have limits ranging between one and five years, there may be exceptions. 

Always check with an attorney if you have questions about the malpractice statute of limitations in your state. 

Tanya Kach was 14 years old when she ran away in 1996 to live with Thomas Hose who was then 37.  Kach filed a lawsuit in 2006 after having lived in captivity in the home that Hose shared with his parents.  Also named in the suit is the security firm that hired Hose and the McKeesport school where he worked.

Kach testified that Hose kept her in an upstairs bedroom for four years before allowing her to start going out when his elderly parents weren’t home. In 2005, he changed Kach’s name to Nikki Allen and began introducing her to people as his girlfriend.

U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster ruled Friday that Kach’s civil rights claims were untimely.   He ruled that the lawsuit was beyond the 2-year statute of limitations, that the clock started when she turned 18 and stopped two years later.

“(Kach) was victimized not only by an adult who preyed on her, but by the many adults who failed her,” Lancaster wrote. “Yet, these circumstances cannot overcome the strong legal precedent supporting the enforcement of statutes of limitations.”

Kach’s lawyer, Lawrence Fisher, thinks the judge made a mistake.  He doesn’t understand how anyone could think that a 14 year old could assert claims in a court especially when she  had been tortured psychologically and threatened with her life.   He has notified Lancaster that he will appeal the decision to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Lancaster’s decision in a similar case was overturned in appeal when he ruled the statute of limitations applied to a woman who was mentally incapacitated and was involuntarily sterilized.  In that case the 3rd Circuit Court had ruled that there were extraordinary circumstances that had prevented the woman from filing in a timely manner.

Hose is now 51 and serving a 15 year sentence for charges related to Kach’s disappearance.