Ready, Set, Go!
The race to the courthouse can be a defining moment.
In Shon v. Karason, 2007 WL 901763 (Pa. Super. Mar. 27, 2007), a patient filed a medical malpractice claim against his podiatrist and the podiatrist's employer. When a certificate of merit was not filed against the health-care providers within the timeframe required by the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, the providers filed a praecipe for entry of judgment of non pros. The praecipe was filed at 1:26p.m. on July 11, 2007. At 3:39p.m. (2 hours and 13 minutes later), the plaintiff filed a certificate of merit as to the podiatrist. Judgment of non pros was entered by the prothonotary upon the praecipe, but the prothy did not docket the praecipe until the next day, July 12. This effectively put the plaintiff out of court at the trial level because the trial court denied the plaintiff's request to open the judgment.
The case went up on appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. One of the arguments that the plaintiff made was that his certificate was timely because it was filed the day before the prothy docketed the praecipe. The court rejected the argument, as the trial court also did. It explained that the prothy has no choice but to enter judgment upon a praecipe that is filed before a certificate of merit is filed (or a motion for more time to file a certificate). Therefore, the pertinent time is when the praecipe was filed, not when the praecipe was docketed.
