Brown v. Warren

858 So. 2d 168, 2003 WL 22389270
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 21, 2003
Docket2002-CA-00274-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 858 So. 2d 168 (Brown v. Warren) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Warren, 858 So. 2d 168, 2003 WL 22389270 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

858 So.2d 168 (2003)

Hattie Pearl BROWN, Appellant,
v.
Edward T. WARREN, M.D. and Carolyn L. Bigelow, M.D., Appellees.

No. 2002-CA-00274-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

October 21, 2003.

*170 Dana J. Swan, Clarksdale, attorney for appellant.

Joseph L. McNamara, Jackson, Stephen P. Kruger, Jan F. Gadow, Ridgeland, John Michael Coleman, Saltillo attorneys for appellee.

Before KING, P.J., BRIDGES and IRVING, JJ.

IRVING, J., for the court.

¶ 1. Mrs. Hattie Pearl Brown filed a medical malpractice suit against Drs. Edward T. Warren and Carolyn Bigelow. The doctors responded with a motion for summary judgment, and the Circuit Court of Hinds County granted the motion. Mrs. Brown, arguing in this appeal that the trial court erred in determining that the doctors were employees of the University of Mississippi Medical Center and not independent contractors, challenges the propriety of the circuit court's decision. Mrs. Brown also argues that the trial court erred in not finding that the doctors' possession of liability insurance waived sovereign immunity to the extent of their insurance.

*171 ¶ 2. We reject these arguments and affirm the trial court.

FACTS

¶ 3. On September 11, 1992, Mrs. Hattie Pearl Brown was admitted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) for chest pain. Upon being admitted, Mrs. Brown came under the care of Dr. Warren, a cardiovascular surgeon. An evaluation of Mrs. Brown revealed that she suffered from acute heart disease. She subsequently began treatment of her heart problem with medication and other non-surgical procedures. When this treatment did not improve Mrs. Brown's condition, she underwent heart bypass surgery. During her initial treatment and surgery, Mrs. Brown's primary physician was Dr. Warren.

¶ 4. Several days after the operation, Mrs. Brown experienced an abnormal decrease in the number of platelets in her blood. At this point, Dr. Warren referred Mrs. Brown to Dr. Carolyn Bigelow, a hematologist. Upon evaluating Mrs. Brown's reduced platelet count, Dr. Bigelow diagnosed Mrs. Brown as having thrombocytopenia which allegedly evolved from ingestion of Heparin, one of the medications that was prescribed for Mrs. Brown during treatment of her heart disease. The thrombocytopenia resulted in the formation of blood clots which impeded the blood flow to Mrs. Brown's lower extremities. This occurrence necessitated the amputation of both of Mrs. Brown's legs above the knee.

¶ 5. Mrs. Brown filed a complaint on September 9, 1994, against Dr. Warren, Dr. Bigelow and others for medical malpractice. Drs. Warren and Bigelow both answered the complaint. In his answer, Dr. Warren affirmatively asserted that he was acting within the scope of his employment with UMMC and that, as a result, he was statutorily immune from liability. He later filed a motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, for summary judgment, asserting sovereign immunity. Dr. Bigelow subsequently joined this motion and was also granted permission to amend her answer to assert sovereign immunity as an affirmative defense. The Hinds County Circuit Court granted the motion and entered a final judgment and order dismissing both Drs. Warren and Bigelow with prejudice. Other facts will be related during the discussion of the issues.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

¶ 6. The grant of summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue of material fact. M.R.C.P. 56(c). The standard of review of a trial court's grant of a motion for summary judgment is de novo. Corey v. Skelton, 834 So.2d 681, 684(¶ 7) (Miss. 2003). The burden of demonstrating that there is no genuine issue of material fact falls upon the party requesting the summary judgment. Id. The court must carefully review all evidentiary matters before it—admissions in pleadings, answers to interrogatories, depositions, affidavits, etc.— in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion for summary judgment is made. Id.

When a motion for summary judgment is made and supported as provided in Rule 56, an adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings; his response must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. If he does not so respond, summary judgment, if appropriate, shall be entered against him. If any triable issues of fact exist, the lower court's decision to grant summary judgment will be reversed. Otherwise, the decision is affirmed.

*172 Id. at 684 (citing Miller v. Meeks, 762 So.2d 302, 304(¶ 3) (Miss.2000)).

¶ 7. In the resolution of the issue before us, we first look to see which, if any, of the statutory enactments on sovereign immunity apply to the case sub judice. The answer to this inquiry will depend on (1) when the alleged acts of negligence occurred, and (2) what law on sovereign immunity was in effect when those alleged acts of negligence occurred. In other words, the Mississippi law on sovereign immunity, if any, which was in effect during the occurrence of the alleged negligent acts govern the legal consequences flowing therefrom. Therefore, this Court must ascertain the time frame in which the alleged negligent acts of Drs. Warren and Bigelow occurred, as substantiated by the summary judgment evidence.

¶ 8. Both parties concede that any acts of negligence occurring in this case on or after September 16, 1992, would be governed by Mississippi's sovereign immunity law as enacted by the 1992 special session of the legislature. However, Mrs. Brown asserts that the aforementioned statutory provisions would not govern any alleged acts of negligence committed by Dr. Warren before September 16, 1992. Consequently, she argues that the trial court erred when it granted sovereign immunity to Dr. Warren for any alleged acts of negligence occurring before September 16, 1992, because no sovereign immunity existed or was in effect during this period of treatment.

¶ 9. Mrs. Brown explains that she was admitted to UMMC on September 11, 1992, and was under Dr. Warren's care from this date through September 15, 1992. She asserts that Dr. Warren committed various acts of negligence during this period. Mrs. Brown argues that there was no sovereign immunity after Presley v. Mississippi State Highway Commission, 608 So.2d 1288 (Miss.1992) (holding that section 11-46-6 was unconstitutional as an attempt to freeze the common law of Mississippi as it existed in 1982) until the legislature, through a special session, enacted new laws to supplant that which had been rendered unconstitutional. Mrs. Brown asserts that this legislation did not become effective until September 16, 1992; therefore, no sovereign immunity existed between the supreme court's handing down of Presley on August 31, 1992, and September 16, 1992, the date on which the special session legislation became effective.

¶ 10. Mrs. Brown is mistaken in her position as to when sovereign immunity was no longer available to government entities in this state. It is true that the Presley court announced that sovereign immunity would not be extended beyond the date of the decision which was August 31, 1992, but in the case of Mississippi Transportation Commission v. Allday, 726 So.2d 563, 566(¶ 9) (Miss.1998), the Allday court held that the Presley ruling did not become effective until the petition for rehearing was denied. That date was December 3, 1992. Id. at 566. Therefore, sovereign immunity was available to Drs. Warren and Bigelow throughout the period of their treatment of Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
858 So. 2d 168, 2003 WL 22389270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-warren-missctapp-2003.