Appellate Court Rules Affidavit of Merit Statute Does Not Cover LPNs

One obvious lesson here is in the use of appeals. The appellate division found “[t]he AOM statute was enacted in 1995 as part of a tort reform package,” but ultimately concluded the tort reform did not extend to LPNs. While the appeal affirmed the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss, the opposite easily could have occurred whereby a more liberal panel could have interpreted the statute to include LPNs.