Christopher Fonte, Petitioner v. Memorial Hospital of Laramie County, dba Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, et al.

Christopher Fonte asks the Supreme Court to review a Tenth Circuit decision involving his federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) claim against Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. He says the lower court applied a Wyoming notice-of-claim rule more broadly than Wyoming courts do, blocking his federal claim.

The case has not been scheduled for oral argument. Fonte argues that due process limits federal courts from ending federal statutory claims by applying state procedures in a form the state's highest court does not recognize.

The case could affect patients who bring EMTALA claims when state procedural rules are involved. For example, a patient could lose a federal emergency-care claim if a federal court applies a state filing requirement differently from state courts.

The case tests whether a federal court may bar an EMTALA claim by applying a Wyoming notice-of-claim rule more broadly than Wyoming courts apply it.

Patients bringing federal emergency-care claims could be affected when state procedural requirements are used to limit those claims in federal court.

The Supreme Court could schedule oral argument or take another action on the petition. No decision timing has been set.