Garcia-Mones v. Groupo Hima San Pablo, Inc.

875 F. Supp. 2d 98, 2012 WL 2870197, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97195
District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided July 13, 2012·No. Civil No. 11-2006 (FAB)·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER1

BESOSA, District Judge.

Before the Court is defendant Centro Medico del Turabo, Inc. d/b/a HIMA SAN PABLO Fajardo’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ Thomas L. Garcia-Mones (“GarciaMones”), his wife Anna. G. Mones, and their conjugal partnership (collectively, “plaintiffs”) claims pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). After reviewing plaintiffs’ eom[100] plaint and relevant briefs, the Court DENIES the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

I. Background

A. Factual and Procedural History

Plaintiffs filed their complaint on October 11, 2011, seeking damages for the defendant’s alleged negligent care of GarciaMones while he was a patient at the HIMA SAN PABLO Fajardo hospital in Fajardo, Puerto Rico (“HIMA”). (Docket No. 1 at ¶¶ 17-21.) Plaintiffs claim that they are domiciled in the state of Florida. Id. at ¶ 5. Plaintiffs own and operate a charter business that “provides services to Saint Thomas and Puerto Rico,” and they also own a vacation home in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Id. As a result of that home and their charter business, they “spend a lot of time in Puerto Rico.” Id. During one of their visits to Puerto Rico, Garcia-Mones was having some “problems with his left knee,” and was referred to Dr. Delgado by word-of-mouth recommendations. Id. at ¶ 6. Dr. Delgado operates at HIMA and he performed knee surgery on Garcia-Mones on January 11, 2011. Id. at ¶¶ 6-7.

After the surgery, Garcia-Mones was placed alone in a hospital room that had no other patients assigned to it. Id. at ¶ 8. At some point during the night after his surgery, Garcia-Mones needed to use the bathroom and attempted to page a nurse by pressing the call button. Id. at ¶ 9. Garcia-Mones alleges that only “one registered nurse” had been “attending his floor” during his time as a patient there. Id. at ¶ 15. After trying to page a nurse several times and “crying for help” without success, Garcia-Mones attempted to get out of the hospital bed and into the bathroom by himself. Id. at ¶¶ 9-11. As he began moving he “got caught between the rails of the bed and started to feel a lot of pain; after a while, he passed out.” Id. at ¶ 11. Several hours later, in the morning, Garcia-Mones woke up on the floor near the hospital room’s bathroom, “with most of the bed sheets over him.” Id. at ¶ 12. Dr. Delgado was the first person to discover Garcia-Mones when he entered the room for a routine check-up. Id. Once Garcia-Mones was back in the bed, Dr. Delgado went to the nurses station and requested pain medication for GarciaMones. Id. at ¶ 13. After keeping Garcia-Mones in the hospital a few more days for observation, Dr. Delgado signed the discharge order for Garcia-Mones on January 15, 2011. Id. at ¶¶ 14,16.

On May 20, 2011, an MRI was performed on Garcia-Mones’ left knee. Id. at ¶ 19. That MRI indicated he had a “Macerated Medial Meniscus and Small Joint Effusion” — injuries that allegedly “are the result of the accident” that Garcia-Mones had suffered in the hospital five months earlier. Id. at ¶ 19. Garcia-Mones seeks damages based on the “permanent impairment” of his knee, the alleged “disparagement and contempt” the nurses exhibited to him during his stay in the hospital, and the “failure and negligence” of the defendant to provide him with a “minimal standard of care” while he was a patient at HIMA. Id. at ¶¶ 17, 23-25. Plaintiffs seek a total of $375,000.00 in damages. Id. at ¶ 26.

B. The Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss

Defendant filed a motion to dismiss on December 21, 2011 pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction and a Rule 12(b)(6) motion based on the Forum Selection Clause contained in the agreement that Garcia-Mones had signed prior to Dr. Delgado’s surgery in the hospital. (Docket No. 6 at p. 3.) Plaintiffs opposed defendant’s motion on January 9, 2012, (Docket No. 10), and defendant replied on January 27, 2012, (Docket [101] No. 20). The Court will address each of defendant’s arguments in turn.

II. Discussion of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

A. Legal Standard for Rule 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss

A defendant may file a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction at any time because federal courts are “courts of limited jurisdiction.” Padilla-Mangual v. Pavia Hosp., 640 F.Supp.2d 128, 133 (D.P.R.2009) (citing Hawes v. Club Ecuestre El Comandante, 598 F.2d 698, 701 (1st Cir.1979)). When reviewing motions to dismiss, a court “must credit the plaintiffs well-pled factual allegations and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor.” Merlonghi v. United States, 620 F.3d 50, 54 (1st Cir.2010) (internal citation omitted). When subject matter jurisdiction is challenged, the party asserting jurisdiction has the burden of proving it by a preponderance of the evidence. See, e.g., Bank One, Texas, N.A. v. Montle, 964 F.2d 48, 50 (1st Cir.1992) (internal citation omitted). The Court “may consider whatever evidence has been submitted, such as the depositions.” Aversa v. United States, 99 F.3d 1200, 1210 (1st Cir.1996).

B. Legal Standard for Establishing Diversity Jurisdiction

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Garcia-Mones v. Groupo Hima San Pablo, Inc., 875 F. Supp. 2d 98, 2012 WL 2870197, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97195 (prd 2012).

875 F. Supp. 2d 98 (Garcia-Mones v. Groupo Hima San Pablo, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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