A Tennessee appeals court rules that the statute of limitations for suing a nursing home was tolled for a resident with dementia even though the resident had granted a durable power of attorney to his son. Sullivan v. Chattanooga Medical Investors (Tenn. App. Ct. , No. M2004-02264-COA-R3-CV, January 26, 2006).
Charlie Sullivan granted his son, Terry, a durable power of attorney. The instrument gave Terry the right to handle Mr. Sullivan's "claims and litigations." Four years later, Mr. Sullivan suffered dementia and was admitted to a nursing home. Terry did not like the way Mr. Sullivan was being cared for and transferred him to another facility in August 2001. In November 2001, Mr. Sullivan died.
More than one year after Mr. Sullivan was transferred, but within one year of his death, Terry sued the nursing home for negligence and wrongful death. The statute of limitations for suing the nursing home was one year from the date Mr. Sullivan left it. Terry claimed the statute of limitations should be tolled because of his father's dementia.
The nursing home argued the dementia should not toll the statute of limitations because Terry had a durable power of attorney. The trial court agreed, and Terry appealed.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals reverses, holding that the statute of limitations is tolled even though Terry had a durable power of attorney over his father's "claims and litigations." According to the court, the durable power of attorney binds the principal to the agent's actions, but it does not necessarily bind the principal to the agent's inactions.
To download the full text of this decision in PDF format, go to: https://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/061/SullivantOPN.pdf.
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