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First Circuit Ponders How Long Plaintiff Can Take to Serve Overseas Defendant

By Sheri Qualters

How much time should a plaintiff get to serve a defendant who has moved overseas? That was the issue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit during oral arguments on March 7. Sobeida Feliz is appealing a March 2010 dismissal of her medical malpractice and wrongful death claims against Dr. Briain MacNeill. Stearns dismissed the case because Feliz did not serve MacNeill with court papers in his native Ireland after several court deadline extensions. In June 2010, Stearns issued a final judgment for MacNeill. In March 2011, Stearns affirmed both rulings.

Feliz filed the suit on behalf of her deceased daughter, Santa Encarnacion, 57, in Massachusetts Superior Court in January 2009. Encarnacion died in January 2007 of brain damage “due to a sustained lack of cerebral blood flow,” according to court records. In addition to MacNeill, Feliz named as defendants Dr. Lawrence Hulefeld and Dr. Tori Robinson. The three doctors treated Encarnacion prior to her death. The United States was substituted as a party for Robinson, who is a U.S. government employee, and in November 2009, the government removed the case to federal court. Feliz's case against Hulefeld and Robinson is ongoing.

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