Bill Text: CT SB00243 | 2012 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Certificates Of Merit.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-05-03 - Bill Passed Temporarily [SB00243 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2012-SB00243-Comm_Sub.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 243
February Session, 2012		LCO No. 1185
		*_____SB00243JUD___032212____*
Referred to Committee on Judiciary
Introduced by:
(JUD)

AN ACT CONCERNING CERTIFICATES OF MERIT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 52-190a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage and applicable to causes of action pending on or accruing on or after said date):

(a) (1) No civil action or apportionment complaint shall be filed to recover damages resulting from personal injury or wrongful death occurring on or after October 1, 1987, whether in tort or in contract, in which it is alleged that such injury or death resulted from the negligence of a health care provider, unless the attorney or party filing the action or apportionment complaint has made a reasonable inquiry as permitted by the circumstances to determine that there are grounds for a good faith belief that there has been negligence in the care or treatment of the claimant. The complaint, initial pleading or apportionment complaint shall contain a certificate of the attorney or party filing the action or apportionment complaint that such reasonable inquiry gave rise to a good faith belief that grounds exist for an action against each named defendant or for an apportionment complaint against each named apportionment defendant. To show the existence of such good faith, the claimant or the claimant's attorney, and any apportionment complainant or the apportionment complainant's attorney, shall obtain a written and signed opinion of a [similar] qualified health care provider, as defined in [section 52-184c, which similar health care provider shall be selected pursuant to the provisions of said section] subsection (d) of this section, that there appears to be evidence of medical negligence and which includes a detailed [basis for the formation of such opinion] statement that identifies one or more breaches of the prevailing professional standard of care.

(2) Such written opinion shall not be subject to discovery by any party except for questioning the validity of the certificate. The claimant or the claimant's attorney, and any apportionment complainant or apportionment complainant's attorney, shall retain the original written opinion and shall attach a copy of such written opinion, with the name and signature of the [similar] qualified health care provider expunged, to such certificate. The [similar] qualified health care provider who provides such written opinion shall not, without a showing of malice, be personally liable for any damages to the defendant health care provider by reason of having provided such written opinion.

(3) In addition to such written opinion, the court may consider other factors with regard to the existence of good faith.

(4) If the court determines, after the completion of discovery, that such certificate was not made in good faith and that no justiciable issue was presented against a health care provider that fully cooperated in providing informal discovery, the court upon motion or upon its own initiative shall impose upon the person who signed such certificate or a represented party, or both, an appropriate sanction which may include an order to pay to the other party or parties the amount of the reasonable expenses incurred because of the filing of the pleading, motion or other paper, including a reasonable attorney's fee. The court may also submit the matter to the appropriate authority for disciplinary review of the attorney if the claimant's attorney or the apportionment complainant's attorney submitted the certificate.

(b) Upon petition to the clerk of the court where the civil action will be filed to recover damages resulting from personal injury or wrongful death, an automatic ninety-day extension of the statute of limitations shall be granted to allow the reasonable inquiry required by subsection (a) of this section. This period shall be in addition to other tolling periods.

(c) The failure to obtain and file the written opinion required by subsection (a) of this section shall be grounds for the dismissal of the action, except that no such action may be dismissed for the failure to obtain and file such written opinion unless the claimant has failed to attach a copy of such written opinion to such certificate pursuant to subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of this section or has failed to remedy such failure within sixty days after being ordered to do so by the court.

(d) For the purposes of this section, "qualified health care provider" means a similar health care provider, as defined in subsection (b) or (c) of section 52-184c, or any other health care provider who may testify as an expert pursuant to subsection (d) of section 52-184c.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	from passage and applicable to causes of action pending on or accruing on or after said date	52-190a

JUD

Joint Favorable