Civil Procedure
Stolen Human Egg Cases Revived; News Coverage Didn’t Notify Plaintiffs
Posted Apr 24, 2008, 02:36 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A California state appeals court has revived tort claims by eight fertility clinic patients against the university hospital where doctors reportedly implanted eggs stolen from unsuspecting women into other infertile patients.
Although the University of California at Irvine promised to notify those affected, once the scandal broke, it never did tell a number of patients, according to the Los Angeles Times. But when the plaintiffs finally sued, after being notified by counsel conducting discovery in other cases, the hospital then contended it was too late. The statute of limitations had expired, the hospital's counsel pointed out, and the would-be plaintiffs should have known from the rampant publicity about the situation that they might have reason to sue.
But a three-judge state appellate court panel ruled in favor of the plaintiffs yesterday. "We conclude constructive suspicion based on publicity alone would be insufficient to trigger the statute of limitations," it states in a written opinion.
So far, the UC has paid over $20 million in settlements in related cases, according to an earlier Los Angeles Times article.