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Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio, Ltd. v. Rankin

This case pits the 10-year statute of repose for healthcare-liability claims against the Texas Constitution's Open Courts provision. The appellate court examined for the first time whether the latter saves a malpractice claim if the former has expired. The answer is no. The Open Courts provision does not confer an open-ended and perpetual right to sue. Texas Supreme Court, No. 08-0316, 03-12-2010

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Argued September 9, 2009

This case pits the ten-year statute of repose for healthcare-liability claims*fn1 against the Texas Constitution’s Open Courts provision.*fn2 We examine for the first time whether the latter saves a malpractice claim if the former has expired. The answer is no.

The Open Courts provision does not confer an open-ended and perpetual right to sue; it “merely gives litigants a reasonable time to discover their injuries and file suit.”*fn3 The Legislature may set an absolute cut-off point for healthcare suits, as it has for other suits,*fn4 so long as the repose period is a reasonable exercise of the Legislature’s police power to act in the interest of the general welfare. The ten-year statute of repose at issue adopts a constitutionally permissible policymaking judgment of the Legislature. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment for the petitioners.

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