Austin v. Boston University Hospital

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that law requiring preliminary hearing by tribunal in every action for medical malpractice, error, or mistake was substantive in nature and not retroactive
• after consideration by tribunal, case can be subject to trial in District or Municipal Court
• also holding, id. at 655 n.4, that “[c]learly, a claim of negligence falls into [the] class of action” described by the words “[e]very action for malpractice, error or mistake”
• statute requiring litigants who do not succeed at the tribunal level in medical malpractice actions to post a bond applied prospectively because, even though statute was largely procedural, forcing litigants to shoulder costs involves an element of substance
• any uncertainty must be resolved against retroactive application of the statute
• a medical malpractice action brought in a court other than the Superior Court must be referred to a tribunal for action in accordance with § 60B; the Legislature intended § 60B to apply only to a medical malpractice action filed on or after January 1, 1976

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).