Goldsmith v. Howmedica, Inc.
New York Court of Appeals
67 N.Y.2d 120, 500 N.Y.S.2d 640, 491 N.E.2d 1097 (1986)
- Written by Steven Pacht, JD
Facts
Robert Goldsmith (plaintiff) received a prosthetic hip replacement in 1975. Dr. Chitranjan Ranawat (defendant) performed the surgery. Howmedica, Inc. (Howmedica) (defendant) manufactured the prosthetic hip. In 1981, the prosthetic hip broke. In 1983, Goldsmith sued Ranawat for malpractice. Ranawat moved for summary judgment on statute-of-limitations grounds, arguing that the limitations period began to run when Ranawat implanted the prosthetic hip. Goldsmith countered that the statute of limitations did not start until Goldsmith was injured by the hip’s failure, relying on this court’s previous holding that the statute of limitations for a strict-liability claim against a medical-device manufacturer did not commence until injury. Per Goldsmith, a malpractice claim against a doctor regarding a medical device should follow the same rule. The supreme court granted summary judgment to Ranawat, which the appellate division affirmed. Goldsmith appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Titone, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
