Supreme Court of Alabama

Joseph L. McNamara, Jr. v. Benchmark Insurance Company

September 8, 2017261 So. 3d 213

Summary

The court held that the Alabama Medical Liability Act's four-year repose period applies to an employer's indemnity claim against an employee when the claim is based on medical malpractice that allegedly caused a patient's injury. Because the employee's alleged medication error occurred more than four years before the indemnity action was filed, the action was time-barred, requiring reversal of the summary judgment for the insurer and remand. Justice Murdock, dissenting, would have held that the employer's indemnity claim was not an AMLA action and therefore was not subject to the AMLA repose period.