Financial exploitation of an older adult is a type of elder abuse. It occurs in many forms. A door-to-door home repairman defrauds an older adult out of her life savings. A caregiver gets an older adult who lacks capacity to sign a deed conveying the older adult’s property to the caregiver’s son. An adult child steals the older adult’s debit card and withdraws significant amounts of money for his own benefit. (Notably, a recent study suggests that relatives may perpetrate more financial elder abuse than strangers.)
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Tag: Rule 17
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Appointment of a GAL Starts the Clock on a Minor’s Med Mal Action
Earlier this month the North Carolina Supreme Court issued its opinion in King v. Albemarle Hospital Authority, holding that a GAL appointment starts the running of the statute of limitations for a minor’s medical malpractice claim. During her birth in 2005, the plaintiff, Desiree King, suffered a severe brain injury. In 2008, just under three years later, a medical malpractice action was filed on her behalf by the guardian ad litem (GAL) who had been appointed for her earlier the same day pursuant to Rule of Civil Procedure 17(b). A few months later, the GAL voluntarily dismissed the action without prejudice as permitted by Rule 41(a). Instead of refiling Desiree’s action within one year as Rule 41(a) allows, the GAL refiled in 2015, about six years later. On the hospital’s motion, the trial court dismissed Desiree’s action as time-barred.
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