When does applying for medical dispute mediation interrupt the limitation period, and what must follow if that application is withdrawn or dismissed?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the mediation application as filed under the provision on applying for mediation, together with the date the mediation commission received it, because the interruption depends on that application. We also read any decision withdrawing or dismissing it, and any later court filing, whose date stamp shows whether suit followed in time.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision in order: an application for mediation, made under the provision on applying for mediation, has the effect of interrupting the limitation period, but if that application is withdrawn or dismissed, a lawsuit must be brought within the period the provision sets, and failing that the interruption never takes effect.
Another reading notes what the provision does not say: it sets no rule for what happens to the time that had already run before the application once the withdrawal or dismissal has occurred, and it does not state whether a suit filed within the period preserves the interruption or opens a new run.
Your judgment
If the mediation application was dismissed and no suit followed, how would the file show what date any remaining limitation period runs from?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to state the effect of a missed deadline after withdrawal or dismissal, or if a court decision fixes which date the limitation period runs from in that case.