Linda Crosby, as Administrator of the Estate of Linda Crosby v. United States
- Stewart Aaron
- 1:20-cv-00330
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
Crosby v. United States: Judge Aaron denied the government’s partial summary-judgment motion because equitable tolling raised factual issues.
The estate’s survival claim against the United States was not dismissed on the government’s partial summary-judgment motion; filings containing the decedent’s medical information remain sealed.
What happened
In Crosby v. United States, the government asked the court to dismiss the estate’s survival claim as untimely under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The government argued that the claim deadline began by February 17, 2017, but the claim was not submitted until August 26, 2019.
The court noted that the claim was filed outside the usual two-year deadline, but found factual questions about whether equitable tolling applied. The decedent had received chemotherapy and experienced hospitalizations before her death, which could have prevented her from pursuing her rights. The court said those questions could not be resolved on summary judgment.
Judge Stewart D. Aaron denied the government’s motion for partial summary judgment. He also granted the government’s motion to seal and ordered that two filings containing medical information remain sealed.
The detailed version
- Linda Crosby, as Administrator of the Estate of Linda Crosby v. United States · No. 1:20-cv-00330
- Stewart Aaron
- Oct. 13, 2021
Background
This Federal Tort Claims Act case concerns a survival claim brought by Linda Crosby as administrator of the estate. The United States moved for partial summary judgment seeking dismissal of that claim as untimely.
The parties acknowledged that the claim submitted to the government on August 26, 2019, was filed outside the two-year period generally applicable to tort claims against the United States under 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b). The United States argued that the survival claim accrued no later than February 17, 2017, when the decedent and Crosby allegedly knew, or should have known, about the decedent’s colon-cancer diagnosis and the alleged delayed referral for a colonoscopy.
The decedent died on January 25, 2018. Crosby was appointed administrator of the estate on April 30, 2018, and filed the claim about 14 months later. The opinion states that Crosby had no authority to act for the decedent before her appointment.
Equitable Tolling
Equitable tolling is a legal doctrine that may extend a filing deadline when a person pursued rights diligently but an extraordinary circumstance prevented timely filing. For the period before the decedent’s death, the court said the analysis must focus on the decedent’s circumstances rather than Crosby’s.
Between February 17, 2017, and January 25, 2018, the decedent received chemotherapy and underwent hospitalizations. The court said those circumstances could qualify as extraordinary circumstances supporting equitable tolling. Because the decedent had died, there was no direct evidence of her efforts to pursue the claim, but the court said it could infer that chemotherapy and hospitalizations may have hindered those efforts.
The court found factual questions about whether equitable tolling should apply to the survival claim. It explained that those questions should not be decided on summary judgment because the court does not weigh evidence or act as the fact-finder at that stage. The court stated that it intended to address the statute-of-limitations issues in written findings of fact and conclusions of law after the bench trial, which would also serve as an evidentiary hearing on equitable tolling.
Rulings
The court denied the United States’ motion for partial summary judgment seeking dismissal of the survival claim.
The court also granted the United States’ letter motion to seal filed at ECF No. 44. It ordered that the documents filed at ECF Nos. 48 and 50 remain under seal because they contain information about the decedent’s medical condition, diagnoses, and treatment.
Judge
Judge Stewart D. Aaron issued the memorandum and order on October 13, 2021.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.