Trial Court's Dismissal of Health Care Liability Action Upheld on Appeal Because Substitution of Deceased Plaintiff Was Not Timely Effected and Time to Substitute Could Not Be Enlarged Because No Excusable Neglect Was Shown to Exist

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has released its decision in Joshlin v. Halford, No. W2020-01643-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 6, 2023). The syllabus from the slip opinion reads:

This appeal involves a failure to timely move for substitution of parties after the death of one of the two plaintiffs. In a previous appeal, this Court directed the trial court, on remand, to determine whether the plaintiff’s response to a motion to dismiss should be construed as a motion for enlargement of time pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 6.02, and if so, to determine whether the plaintiff’s failure to timely move for substitution of the parties pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 25.01 was the result of excusable neglect. On remand, the trial court determined that the plaintiff’s filing should be construed as a motion for an enlargement of time. However, the trial court also found that the plaintiff failed to timely move for substitution due to counsel’s misinterpretation of the law, which, the trial court concluded, did not constitute excusable neglect. As such, the trial court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to timely substitute parties. The plaintiff appeals. We affirm and remand for further proceedings.

Here is a link to the opinion: TN Courts (scroll down; slip opinion may not be accessible via a smart phone or tablet due to a quirk in the system right now). 

NOTE: This appellate decision is another iteration of the case discussed in my blog post from Nov. 7, 2019, which can be found here:

 http://theduncanlawfirm.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-case-on-proper-way-to-maintain-suit.html.