Brown v. State

942 So. 2d 721, 2006 WL 3093346
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 2, 2006
Docket06-709
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 942 So. 2d 721 (Brown v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. State, 942 So. 2d 721, 2006 WL 3093346 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

942 So.2d 721 (2006)

Rebecca BROWN
v.
STATE of Louisiana, et al.

No. 06-709.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 2, 2006.

*722 Joseph T. Dalrymple, Rivers, Beck, Dalrymple & Ledet, Alexandria, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellee, Rebecca Brown.

Lewis O. Lauve, Jr., Special Assistant Attorney General, Alexandria, LA, for Defendant-Appellant, State of Louisiana.

Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge, J. DAVID PAINTER, and JAMES T. GENOVESE, Judges.

PAINTER, Judge.

In this claim based on medical malpractice, Defendant, State of Louisiana through the LSU Medical Center Health Care Services Division, d/b/a Huey P. Long Medical Center—Pineville, appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff, Rebecca Brown. Finding that there are genuine issues of material fact, we reverse the judgment of the court below and remand the matter for trial on the merits.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2002, Brown was thirty-two years old and had been experiencing several months of irregular menstrual cycles with profuse bleeding and significant pain. Apparently, she tried using Aleve, an anti-inflammatory, to treat her symptoms for several months to no avail. Plaintiff was seen by Dr. David Barnard at Huey P. Long Medical Center on January 31, 2002. A hysterectomy was recommended and ultimately performed on February 6, 2002 at Huey P. Long Medical Center by Dr. Margaret Carter with Dr. Carol Darwish and Dr. Yang assisting.

Following the surgery, Plaintiff requested a medical review panel, alleging that she suffered serious complications including lacerations to her bladder, that the surgery was unnecessary, and that she was never offered more conservative medical approaches to her problem in violation of the informed consent statute. After the medical review panel found in favor of Defendant, Plaintiff filed the present suit.

Plaintiff moved for summary judgment on the issue of liability and alleged that since there was no meaningful discussion of alternative therapy or treatment, there was a failure to obtain informed consent. Defendant opposed the motion and served supporting affidavits on Plaintiff on February 28, 2006. Plaintiff objected to the introduction of the affidavits on the ground that they were not timely as the hearing was set for March 6, 2006. The trial court accepted the affidavits. The trial court went on to grant a summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff on the issue of liability, finding that Defendant failed to obtain a satisfactory informed consent from Plaintiff to perform a vaginal hysterectomy. No written reasons for judgment appear in the record.

Defendant appeals. Plaintiff has answered the appeal, asserting that the trial court erred as a matter of law in allowing the admission of the late-filed affidavits on behalf of Defendant. Defendant also filed a motion to the supplement the record on appeal with the deposition transcript of Dr. Carol Darwish. For the following reasons, we deny the motion to supplement, affirm the acceptance of Defendant's affidavits, *723 and reverse the grant of summary judgment.

DISCUSSION

Motion to Supplement Record

Defendant filed a motion to supplement the record on appeal, seeking to allow the introduction of the transcript of the deposition of Dr. Carol Darwish. Dr. Darwish's deposition was not taken until July 19, 2006, after the lodging of the record of this case in this court. Plaintiff opposed the introduction of this deposition transcript. This matter was referred for consideration with the merits of the appeal.

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 2132 provides:

A record on appeal which is incorrect or contains misstatements, irregularities or informalities, or which omits a material part of the trial record, may be corrected even after the record is transmitted to the appellate court, by the parties by stipulation, by the trial court or by the order of the appellate court. All other questions as to the content and form of the record shall be presented to the appellate court.

Obviously, Defendant's motion does not concern the correction of an erroneous record or allege that the record is deficient as to evidence actually introduced at the trial court. It seeks, instead, to introduce a transcript of a deposition taken after the hearing on the motion for summary judgment and after the record was lodged with this court on May 31, 2006. The deposition of Dr. Darwish is clearly new evidence. This court is not vested with the authority to receive new evidence and cannot consider evidence which was not part of the record before the trial court. White v. W. Carroll Hosp., Inc., 613 So.2d 150 (La.1992). Therefore, the motion to supplement the record on appeal is hereby denied.

Motion to Dismiss

In opposition to the Defendant's motion to supplement, Plaintiff filed a pleading entitled, "Motion to Dismiss and Memorandum in Opposition to Motion to Supplement Appeal Record." However, the pleading contains argument only as to Defendant's motion to supplement the record on appeal. We are left to assume that the motion to dismiss referred to Defendant's motion to supplement. As we have denied Defendant's motion to supplement, we find that consideration of the motion to dismiss is unnecessary.

Motion for Summary Judgment

"It is well settled that appellate courts review summary judgments de novo, using the same criteria applied by the trial courts to determine whether summary judgment is appropriate." Butler v. DePuy, 04-101, p. 3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/9/04), 876 So.2d 259, 261 (citing Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hosp., Inc., 93-2512 (La.7/5/94), 639 So.2d 730).

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 966(B) provides:

The motion for summary judgment and supporting affidavits shall be served at least fifteen days before the time specified for the hearing. For good cause, the court shall give the adverse party additional time to file a response, including opposing affidavits or depositions. The adverse party may serve opposing affidavits, and if such opposing affidavits are served, the opposing affidavits and any memorandum in support thereof shall be served pursuant to Article 1313 at least eight days prior to the date of the hearing unless the Rules for Louisiana District Courts provide to the contrary. The judgment sought shall be *724 rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

With respect to what determines whether or not a fact is material, this court, in Broussard v. Jester, 04-18, p. 4 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/16/04), 876 So.2d 940, 942, writ denied, 04-1787 (La.10/15/04), 883 So.2d 1056, has stated:

Material facts are those which potentially ensure or preclude recovery, affect a litigant's ultimate success, or determine the outcome of the legal dispute. Hardy v. Bowie, 98-2821 (La.9/8/99), 744 So.2d 606. If there is a genuinely disputed issue of material fact summary judgment is not appropriate. La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(c)(1).
In determining whether an issue is "genuine" for purposes of a summary judgment motion, courts cannot consider the merits, make credibility determinations, evaluate testimony, or weigh evidence. Simon v. Fasig-Tipton Co. of New York, 524 So.2d 788 (La.App. 3 Cir.),

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
942 So. 2d 721, 2006 WL 3093346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-state-lactapp-2006.