Outstanding dental balance question.

Question

I recently received the bill from my dentist whose services I used until May, 2019. 
The bill included services that were done from December 2017 to May 2019. Since the accuracy of billing had always been a concern of mine I’m going to check the dentist office number. 
But before I do my checking I’d like to know if there is a Maryland statute of limitation may be applied to this outstanding balance since service were done 3 to 5 years ago. 
Thanks a lot.

Mark Oakley · Answer

It will depend on whether each of the dental procedures were either (1) part of a single overall plan for one total price that took multiple procedures to complete, or (2) whether each procedure was a separate unrelated dental procedure with a price charged for each.   In the former situation, the argument would be that the SOL does not begin to run until the last payment was due on the last procedure.  In the latter situation, the SOL begins to run from the date that each individually charged procedure was completed and the money became due and payable.  That would mean, for your situation, that any money owed for procedures that occurred further back than the applicable statute of limitations would be barred.  Normally that would be 3 years.  But, due to Covid, you need to add 126 days to the 3 year SOL because the SOL clock stopped running between March 15, 2020 and July 20, 2020 when the Court of Appeals shut the courts down.  So, any procedures for which money remains owing that were performed within 3 years and 126 days would still be valid; any older than that date would be barred.

Q: Outstanding dental balance question.