Beverly Gardner v. Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital (Concur)

Syllabus

This case presents a simple issue: Whether the Tennessee Health Care Liability Act's statute of limitation extension prevails over the common law rule that a plaintiff cannot pursue a vicarious liability claim against a principal when the plaintiff's claim against the agent is procedurally barred by operation of law before the plaintiff asserts the vicarious liability claim against the principal. This common law rule is known as the operation-of-law exception. Here, the Plaintiff filed a vicarious liability suit against the principal, Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital, after the one-year statute of limitations had expired as to the Hospital's agents but within the Act's 120-day extension of the statute of limitations as to the Hospital. Was the suit timely filed? Yes—the Act's provisions prevail over the common law operation-of-law exception.