The Pennsylvania Superior Court revived a couple’s medical malpractice claims against a Bucks County podiatrist, ruling that the trial court had acted too hastily in granting the doctor’s motion for summary judgment.

The three-judge panel held in a precedential opinion that, although the podiatrist’s motion had simply joined a motion filed earlier by another defendant, the plaintiffs should still have had a full 30 days to respond. And the plaintiffs were deprived of that appropriate response time when the trial court granted both defendants' motions for summary judgment just over a week after the podiatrist filed his joinder, the panel ruled.