A lawyer’s failure to file an affidavit of merit in a nursing malpractice suit is not an extraordinary circumstance warranting relief from filing deadlines, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled.

The appeals court affirmed the dismissal of claims against three jailhouse nurses in the death of a prisoner. In a published ruling, the court said in Yearby v. Middlesex County that a judge below erroneously reinstated claims against the nurses in connection with the death of a mentally ill prisoner, David Yearby, in November 2014.