HOUSE BILL No. 4467

 

March 8, 2005, Introduced by Reps. Condino, Bieda, Anderson, Tobocman, Alma Smith, Lemmons, III, Zelenko and Wenke and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

     A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled

 

"Revised judicature act of 1961,"

 

by amending section 5851 (MCL 600.5851), as amended by 1993 PA 283.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 5851. (1) Except as otherwise provided in  subsections

 

(7) and (8)  subsection (2), (6), or (7), if the person first

 

entitled to make an entry or bring an action under this act is  

 

under  less than 18 years of age or insane at the time the claim

 

accrues, the person or those claiming under the person  shall  have

 

1 year after the disability is removed, through death or otherwise,

 

to make the entry or bring the action although the period of

 

limitations has run. This section does not  lessen  shorten the


 

time  provided for in  within which an action may be commenced

 

under section 5852.

 

      (2) The term insane as employed in this chapter means a

 

condition of mental derangement such as to prevent the sufferer

 

from comprehending rights he or she is otherwise bound to know and

 

is not dependent on whether or not the person has been judicially

 

declared to be insane.

 

     (2) If a claim that arises from sexual conduct with a person

 

accrues when the person is less than 18 years of age, the person or

 

a person entitled to bring an action based on the claim has 2 years

 

after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this

 

subsection or 20 years after the disability is removed, whichever

 

is later, to bring the action, regardless of whether the period of

 

limitations has run.

 

     (3) To be  considered  a disability under this section, the

 

infancy or insanity must exist at the time the claim accrues. If

 

the disability comes into existence after the claim  has accrued, a

 

court shall not recognize the disability under this section for the

 

purpose of modifying  accrues, the period of limitations is not

 

modified by this section.

 

     (4)  A person shall not tack successive disabilities. A court

 

shall recognize only  Successive disabilities may not be tacked.

 

Only those disabilities that exist at the time the claim first

 

accrues and that disable the person to whom the claim first accrues  

 

for the purpose of modifying  modify the period of limitations

 

under this section.

 

     (5)  A court shall recognize  If both of the disabilities of


 

infancy  or  and insanity  that  disable the person to whom  the  a

 

claim first accrues at the time the claim first accrues, both

 

disabilities apply under this section.  A court shall count the

 

year  A period of grace provided in this section  from  begins on

 

the termination of the last disability to the person to whom the

 

claim originally accrued that has continued from the time the claim

 

accrued, whether this disability terminates because of the death of

 

the person disabled or for some other reason.

 

      (6) With respect to a claim accruing before the effective

 

date of the age of majority act of 1971, Act No. 79 of the Public

 

Acts of 1971, being sections 722.51 to 722.55 of the Michigan

 

Compiled Laws, the disability of infancy is removed as of the

 

effective date of Act No. 79 of the Public Acts of 1971, as to

 

persons who were at least 18 years of age but less than 21 years of

 

age on January 1, 1972, and is removed as of the eighteenth

 

birthday of a person who was under 18 years of age on January 1,

 

1972.

 

     (6)  (7)  Except as otherwise provided in subsection  (8)  

 

(7), if, at the time a claim alleging medical malpractice accrues

 

to a person under section 5838a the person has not reached his or

 

her eighth birthday, a person shall not bring an action based on

 

the claim unless the action is commenced on or before the person's

 

tenth birthday or within the period of limitations set forth in

 

section 5838a, whichever is later. If, at the time a claim alleging

 

medical malpractice accrues to a person under section 5838a, the

 

person has reached his or her eighth birthday, he or she is subject

 

to the period of limitations set forth in section 5838a.


 

     (7)  (8)  If, at the time a claim alleging medical malpractice

 

accrues to a person under section 5838a, the person has not reached

 

his or her thirteenth birthday and if the claim involves an injury

 

to the person's reproductive system, a person shall not bring an

 

action based on the claim unless the action is commenced on or

 

before the person's fifteenth birthday or within the period of

 

limitations set forth in section 5838a, whichever is later. If, at

 

the time a claim alleging medical malpractice accrues to a person

 

under section 5838a, the person has reached his or her thirteenth

 

birthday and the claim involves an injury to the person's

 

reproductive system, he or she is subject to the period of

 

limitations set forth in section 5838a.

 

     (8)  (9)  If a person was serving a term of imprisonment on  

 

the effective date of the 1993 amendatory act that added this

 

subsection  April 1, 1994, and that person has a cause of action to

 

which the disability of imprisonment would have been applicable

 

under the former provisions of this section, an entry may be made

 

or an action may be brought under this act for that cause of action

 

within 1 year after  the effective date of the 1993 amendatory act

 

that added this subsection  April 1, 1994, or within any other

 

applicable period of limitation provided by law.

 

     (9)  (10)  If a person died or was released from imprisonment

 

at any time within the period of 1 year preceding  the effective

 

date of the 1993 amendatory act that added this subsection  April

 

1, 1994, and that person had a cause of action to which the

 

disability of imprisonment would have been applicable under the

 

former provisions of this section on the date of his or her death


 

or release from imprisonment, an entry may be made or an action may

 

be brought under this act for that cause of action within 1 year

 

after the date of his or her death or release from imprisonment, or

 

within any other applicable period of limitation provided by law.

 

     (10)  (11)  As used in this section:  , "release

 

     (a) "Insane" means suffering under a condition of mental

 

derangement that prevents the sufferer from comprehending rights he

 

or she is otherwise bound to know, regardless of whether the

 

individual has been judicially declared to be insane.

 

     (b) "Release from imprisonment" means either of the following:

 

     (i)  (a)  A final release or discharge from imprisonment in a

 

county jail.

 

     (ii)  (b)  Release on parole or a final release or discharge

 

from imprisonment in a state or federal correctional facility.

 

     (c) "Sexual conduct" means conduct proscribed by section 520b,

 

520c, 520d, 520e, or 520g of the Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328,

 

MCL 750.520b, 750.520c, 750.520d, 750.520e, and 750.520g,

 

regardless of whether the conduct was the subject of a criminal

 

prosecution or whether the conduct can be proved beyond a

 

reasonable doubt.