Ulibarri V. Superior Court

In 1990, Patricia Ulibarri sued her former psychiatrist, Dr. Dean Gerstenberger, for medical malpractice, alleging that in 1983 and 1984 he hypnotized her and then subjected her to nonconsensual sexual relations. Gerstenberger answered that all sexual relations with Ulibarri were consensual, he filed a counterclaim accusing her of blackmailing him in 1986 by threatening to go public with their affair. Gerstenberger filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the complaint was time-barred because it was filed about six years after the alleged malpractice, and the applicable statute of limitations, Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. ("A.R.S.") section 12-542, is two years. In response to the motion, Ulibarri argued that the statute of limitations was tolled because Gerstenberger's post-hypnotic suggestions caused her to have no memory of their sexual relations until she was hypnotized by a gynecologist in 1989. The trial court granted summary judgment to Gerstenberger. Ulibarri appealed, and this court reversed and remanded, finding that Ulibarri had "raised a material fact issue as to whether she could have discovered the existence of her cause of action within the statutory time period." Ulibarri v. Gerstenberger, 178 Ariz. 151, 162, 871 P.2d 698, 709 (App. 1993).