Attorney Barbacane Secures Complete Dismissal for Physician

Attorney Courtney C. Barbacane secured the complete dismissal of a civil suit against a physician, with prejudice, after Plaintiff failed to effectuate service of original process within the statute of limitations.  Consistent with the Lamp Rule, the defense argued that the mere filing of a praecipe for a writ of summons, without additional affirmative action to effectuate service of the writ, does not constitute a good faith effort to notify a defendant that he is being sued; therefore, it is not sufficient to toll the statute of limitations and preserve a cause of action. See Lamp v. Heyman, 366 A.2d 882 (Pa. 1976).