Prescription on birth-defect claim

In Bailey v. Khoury, decided today, the Louisiana Supreme Court considered a novel question:

whether the time limitation for filing a claim seeking recovery of damages arising from birth defects can be considered to commence at a time prior to the child’s live birth when, because of information gained from an ultrasound of the fetus, the unborn child’s parent was told both that the child had birth defects and that those defects were probably caused by the mother’s ingestion of drugs prescribed and dispensed by defendants.

The Court held that "prescription on both the mother’s claim on behalf of the child and the mother’s individual claim commenced on the later of the two dates–i.e., the date when the child was born. Because the mother’s original petition regarding the two claims was filed less than a year from the date of the child’s birth, we affirm the court of appeal judgment denying defendants’ peremptory exceptions of prescription."

Posted by RPW at January 20, 2005 09:30 PM