From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Beegan v. Schmidt

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
Nov 9, 1981
436 A.2d 893 (Me. 1981)

Opinion

Argued November 6, 1981.

Decided November 9, 1981.

Appeal from the Superior Court, Kennebec County.

Mark S. Kierstead (orally), Waterville, for plaintiff.

Preti, Flaherty Beliveau, Christopher D. Nyhan (orally), John P. Doyle, Jr., Portland, for defendant.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., and GODFREY, NICHOLS, CARTER and VIOLETTE, JJ.


MEMORANDUM DECISION.

In addition to alleging negligence in diagnosing and treating plaintiff's dental problems, her complaint in this action against a dentist alleges that she suffered personal injury from the dentist's breach of an implied warranty "that all work would be done by the Defendant to the standards of the dental profession and that the Defendant would use and exercise the care and skill by dentists in the practice of dentistry in the County of Kennebec, State of Maine, or similar localities." Both the claims in negligence and those in implied contract are controlled by the two-year statute of limitations applicable to "[a]ctions for . . . malpractice of physicians and all others engaged in the healing art," 14 M.R.S.A. § 753 (1980), and not by the general six-year statute of limitations, 14 M.R.S.A. § 752 (1980). See Woolley v. Henderson, Me., 418 A.2d 1123, 1135 (1980) ("where a plaintiff claims he has suffered personal injury as the result of a physician's faulty diagnosis or mistreatment, his remedy lies in a complaint for negligence, not in an action on an implied contract to exercise due care"). Since plaintiff concededly commenced her action more than two years, though less than six, after her cause of action accrued, the Superior Court correctly dismissed her action.

The entry must be:

Judgment affirmed.

All concurring.


Summaries of

Beegan v. Schmidt

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
Nov 9, 1981
436 A.2d 893 (Me. 1981)
Case details for

Beegan v. Schmidt

Case Details

Full title:Beatrice BEEGAN v. James L. SCHMIDT

Court:Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Date published: Nov 9, 1981

Citations

436 A.2d 893 (Me. 1981)

Citing Cases

Houk v. Furman

Millett v. Dumais, 365 A.2d 1038 (Me. 1976). See also Beegan v. Schmidt, 436 A.2d 893 (Me. 1981). 459 A.2d at…

Givertz v. Maine Medical Center

Such integration of the two statutes manifests an intent on the part of the lawmakers to make the ninety-day…