Barnes v. Ozarks Community Hospital of Gravette Clinic

2017 Ark. App. 32, 510 S.W.3d 286, 2017 Ark. App. LEXIS 53
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 25, 2017
DocketCV-16-290
StatusPublished

This text of 2017 Ark. App. 32 (Barnes v. Ozarks Community Hospital of Gravette Clinic) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barnes v. Ozarks Community Hospital of Gravette Clinic, 2017 Ark. App. 32, 510 S.W.3d 286, 2017 Ark. App. LEXIS 53 (Ark. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

BART F. VIRDEN, Judge

|T Reuben and Margaret Barnes (hereinafter “the Barneses”) appeal the Benton County Circuit Court’s decision awarding summary judgment in favor of Ozarks Community Hospital of Gravette Clinic and Dr. William F. Webb (hereinafter “Ozarks”). On appeal, the Barneses argue that the circuit court erred in awarding summary judgment based on its misinterpretation of 11 U.S.C. section 554. The Barneses also assert that the circuit court order granting summary judgment constituted an improper collateral attack on the federal bankruptcy court proceedings. In the alternative, the Barneses argue that if the circuit court’s interpretation of 11 U.S.C section 554 was correct, then the circuit court erred when it found that Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 17(a) did not apply under the facts of this case. We find no error and affirm.

I. Facts

lain May 2013, the Barneses filed a bankruptcy petition and listed a medical-malpractice claim against Ozarks in the schedule of assets. On June 16, 2014, the trustee entered a “Final Account and Distribution Report Certification that the Estate has been Fully Administered and Application to be Discharged” (“Final Account”). On line 27 of the “Individual Estate Property Record and Report Asset Cases” form, a “Potential Medical Malpractice Action” with an unscheduled value of $45,950 was designated “FA,” or “fully administered.” In the Final Account a column runs throughout the entire list of assets in which the trustee is instructed to make the notation “OA” if the asset on that line has been abandoned pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 554(a). The column for line 27, or “Potential Medical Malpractice Action” had been left blank.

On the same day the Final Account was entered, the Barneses filed a complaint against Ozarks, contending that, as a result of Dr. Webb’s failure to diagnose Reuben Barnes’ Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Reuben had become blind, and he and his wife were entitled to damages and costs. On April 24, 2015, Ozarks filed a motion for summary judgment in which it argued that the Barneses did not have standing to file their complaint because the malpractice claim had not been abandoned at that time; therefore, only the trustee could have filed the claim on that date. Ozarks attached the trustee’s Final Account to its motion, which listed the potential medical-malpractice claim among the assets. Ozarks argued that because the Barneses had no standing to file, the complaint was a nullity. The Barneses responded that the claim had been abandoned by the bankruptcy trustee on June 16, 2014, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 554(a), and they had a right to pursue the claim.

|sThe circuit court awarded summary judgment in favor of Ozarks. In the written order filed July 31, 2015, the circuit court found that the medical malpractice claim had not been abandoned by the bankruptcy trustee under section 554(a); therefore, when the Barneses filed the complaint on June 16, 2014, they lacked standing. The circuit court found that the complaint, filed without standing, was a nullity. The circuit court additionally found that abandonment of the medical malpractice claim at the close of the bankruptcy case, pursuant to section 554(c), would not have occurred until July 23, 2014, and that the statute of limitations on the medical malpractice claim expired on June 19, 2014. The circuit court found that Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 17 did not apply because the Barnes’ complaint was a nullity and because there was no understandable mistake that would allow for the application of the rule. The Barneses filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

A. Abandonment of the Malpractice Claim and Standing

Summary judgment is to be granted by the circuit court only when there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Killian v. Gibson, 2012 Ark. App. 299, at 6, 423 S.W.3d 98, 101. In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, an appellate court determines if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of the motion left a material question of fact unanswered. Id. This court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion for summary judgment was filed and resolves all doubts and inferences against the moving party. Id.

| ¿When the proof supporting a motion for summary judgment is sufficient, the opposing party must meet proof with proof, and the failure to do so leaves the uncontroverted facts supporting the motion accepted as true for purposes of the motion. See Inge v. Walker, 70 Ark. App. 114, 15 S.W.3d 348 (2000). In response to a motion for summary judgment, the supporting material must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue of fact for trial. Mount Olive Water Ass’n v. City of Fayetteville, 313 Ark. 606, 856 S.W.2d 864 (1993).

We recognize a “shifting burden” in summary-judgment motions, in that while the moving party has the burden of proving that it is entitled to summary judgment, once it has done so, the burden then shifts to the nonmoving party to show that material questions of fact remain. See Ford v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 339 Ark. 434, 5 S.W.3d 460 (1999). When the movant makes a prima facie showing of entitlement to a summary judgment, the respondent must discard the shielding cloak of formal allegations and meet proof with proof by showing a genuine issue as to a material fact. Hughes Western World v. Westmoor Mfg., 269 Ark. 300, 601 S.W.2d 826 (1980).

The Barneses and Ozarks agree that the medical-malpractice claim was abandoned by the trustee pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 554; however, the parties disagree on the question of whether the documents submitted to the court indicate that the claim was abandoned pursuant to subsection (a) or pursuant to subsection (c). 11 U.S.C. section 554 sets forth the following:

(a) After notice and a hearing, the trustee may abandon any property of the estate that is burdensome to the estate or that is of inconsequential value and benefit to the estate.

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Related

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289 S.W.3d 393 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2008)
Mount Olive Water Ass'n v. City of Fayetteville
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Hughes Western World, Inc. v. Westmoor Manufacturing Co.
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207 S.W.3d 458 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2005)
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155 S.W.3d 2 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2004)
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Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Taylor
2015 Ark. 78 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2015)
Hobson v. Holloway
377 S.W.3d 376 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2010)
Killian v. Gibson
423 S.W.3d 98 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2012)
Bratton v. Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Jackson & Tucker
788 S.W.2d 955 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1990)
Vreugdenhil v. Hoekstra
773 F.2d 213 (Eighth Circuit, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
2017 Ark. App. 32, 510 S.W.3d 286, 2017 Ark. App. LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnes-v-ozarks-community-hospital-of-gravette-clinic-arkctapp-2017.