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Katherine M. Lewis v. Jeremy P. Waletzky, Misc. No. 3, September Term, 2010 MARYLAND HEALTH CARE CLAIMS ACT - WAIVER - ADMINISTRATIVE FILING REQUIREMENTS - The Maryland Health Care Claims Act ("Act") requires that all medical malpractice plaintiffs, prior to pursuing suit in circuit court, complete several administrative filing requirements. Failure to comply with those administrative filing requirements results in dismissal of the claim without prejudice. CHOICE OF LAW - TORT - LEX LOCI DELICTI - SUBSTANTIVE V. PROCEDURAL DICHOTOMY - Maryland adheres to the doctrine of lex loci delicti for matters of substantive tort law. Under that doctrine, Maryland state courts will apply the law of the place of injury to determine the substantive rights of the parties. Procedural matters--i.e., matters that concern "the manner in which the forum administers justice" or simply "restrict, limit, define, qualify, or otherwise simply modify" an existing cause of action--are always governed by the law of Maryland, regardless of the place of injury. Because the Act's administrative filing requirements at issue here are procedural, the plaintiff was required to have satisfied those requirements.

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND Misc. No. 3 September Term, 2010

KATHERINE M. LEWIS v. JEREMY P. WALETZKY

Bell, C.J., Harrell Battaglia Greene *Murphy Adkins Barbera, JJ.

Opinion by Barbera, J. Murphy and Adkins, JJ., dissent.

Filed: October 27, 2011 *Murphy, J., now retired, participated in the hearing and conference of this case while an active member of this Court; after being recalled pursuant to the Constitution, Article IV, Section 3A, he also participated in the decision and adoption of this opinion.

We have before us a question of law certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Certification of Questions of Law Act, Maryland Code (1974, 2006 Repl. Vol.),

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