Mary Beth Gazi recently secured the dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit against a nurse practitioner based on the statute of limitations. In the lawsuit, the nurse practitioner was not named in the original complaint. After initial written discovery and depositions, plaintiff’s counsel was permitted to amend the complaint to add the nurse practitioner despite the objection of Ms. Gazi that the amendment was improper because the claim was time-barred. Subsequently, Ms. Gazi filed a motion for summary judgment and argued that the claim should be dismissed based on the statute of limitations because the consultation notes contained in the pertinent records clearly listed the nurse practitioner’s name and employer, and the records also contained two typed consultation reports by the nurse practitioner. The motion for summary judgment was opposed by plaintiff who argued that the claim was not time-barred and permissible under the fictitious pleading rule because “John Doe” parties were included in the original complaint. Under New Jersey law, the fictitious pleading rule allows a litigant to preserve a cause of action when the litigant knows the nature of the claim but does not know the identity of the alleged tortfeasor. After a lengthy oral argument, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment and held that the claim was barred under the statute of limitations. In so ruling, the court rejected plaintiff’s effort to rely on the fictitious pleading rule based on its determination that plaintiff failed to use proper diligence because the nurse practitioner’s identity could have been ascertained by a thorough review of the records before the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that Louis John Dughi, Jr., Craig A. Domalewski, Mary Elizabeth Gazi, and Brandon D. Minde will be presenting an online seminar on New Jersey trial preparation on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:00pm EST (estimated duration: 75 minutes).
A trial is the culmination of the preparation of the case – preparation that has been designed from the start of discovery to develop the facts and evidence to win at trial. The trial attorney must start at the end (what needs to be proven at trial) to identify the elements of each claim and defense and then design a Blueprint of how he or she will develop and establish the facts and evidence to support the claims and defenses of the case. Like any building process, there are multiple stages to design, assess and redesign the Blueprint and strategies. The final Blueprint is a trial notebook that defines trial themes and organizes the presentation of the facts and evidence by witness to prove the facts needed to win. An effective trial book keeps the trial attorney focused and instills confidence that he or she is prepared and ready.
In this program, partners at Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C., a premier New Jersey boutique law firm with extensive litigation and trial experience, will help the practitioner learn to develop a Blueprint as it pertains to written discovery, fact deposition and expert discovery, dispositive and pre-trial motions, rules of evidence, trial issues and more when litigating New Jersey cases and getting those cases ready for trial.
Learning Objectives:
This webcast will stream live on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:00pm EST (estimated duration: 75 minutes) and will be taught by Louis John Dughi, Jr., Craig A. Domalewski, Mary Elizabeth Gazi, and Brandon D. Minde. To register for the webcast, click on the link listed below.
Accreditation:
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