Hand & Wrist Center of Houston, P.A. and SCA Houston Hospital for Specialize Surgery, L.P. v. Republic Services, Inc.

401 S.W.3d 712, 2013 WL 1802631
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 30, 2013
Docket14-12-00089-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 401 S.W.3d 712 (Hand & Wrist Center of Houston, P.A. and SCA Houston Hospital for Specialize Surgery, L.P. v. Republic Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hand & Wrist Center of Houston, P.A. and SCA Houston Hospital for Specialize Surgery, L.P. v. Republic Services, Inc., 401 S.W.3d 712, 2013 WL 1802631 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

[714]*714MAJORITY OPINION

J. BRETT BUSBY, Justice.

Appellants, Hand & Wrist Center of Houston (“Hand & Wrist”) and SCA Houston Hospital for Specialized Surgery (“SCA Hospital”), appeal the amount awarded as prejudgment interest on their claims against appellee, Republic Services, Inc. (“Republic”). We hold that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to award prejudgment interest on the partial payments that Republic made on the eve of trial. We modify the trial court’s judgment to include such interest and affirm the judgment as modified.

Background

An employee of Republic required medical attention and sought medical services from appellants. Republic signed a “Letter of Guarantee,” promising to pay for the medical services provided to the employee. Appellants provided the medical services to employee and billed Republic. The amount owed on the bills was $4,028.62 to Hand & Wrist and $15,584.51 to SCA Hospital.

On October 14, 2009, Republic received its first bills from appellants, which it did not pay. Appellants attempted to collect the amount owed by sending further bills and making phone calls to Republic requesting payment. When appellants still did not receive payment from Republic, appellants contacted their collections attorney to resolve the matter. On May 20, 2010, appellants’ attorney sent a letter to Republic demanding payment of $4,028.62 to Hand & Wrist and $15,534.51 to SCA Hospital for the medical services rendered under the Letter of Guarantee and attaching copies of the bills for those services.

Having received no payment from Republic, appellants filed their original petition on June 23, 2010, alleging that Republic breached the guarantee contract by failing to pay for the medical services provided. Appellants sought damages as well as prejudgment interest, post-judgment interest, costs, and attorney’s fees. On October 4, 2011, just before trial was set to begin, Republic made partial payments.1 Republic paid $2,915.48 to Hand & Wrist and $2,517.06 to SCA Hospital.

At trial, representatives of all parties candidly told the jury about these payments and framed the ease as a dispute over whether Republic had to pay the remainder of the bills. Appellants’ theory was that Republic had paid only part of the amounts due under the contract and that the jury should award them the amounts still owed. Republic’s theory was that the amounts due under the contract had been adjusted and that it had paid the adjusted amounts, so the jury should award zero damages. For example, Republic’s counsel told the jury in his opening argument that “this contract in this case allows for something called adjustments ..., and these adjustments were done in this case, and ... [tjhese folks were paid after the adjustments were made.” Again in closing, counsel stated that the bills “were reduced by different amounts, and there were payments made in accordance with those reductions,” so “the total account balance is zero.”

Appellants called Sean Lundy, a board-certified medical practice executive at Hand & Wrist, who testified that he is responsible for the billing and collections, [715]*715among other business administration duties. Lundy testified that Republic signed a Letter of Guarantee with appellants. The Letter of Guarantee provides, in pertinent part, that:

[Republic] guarantees that it will pay [Hand & Wrist and SCA Hospital] ... their usual and customary fees for medical care rendered to the Patient. Payment will be made within 80 days after receiving notice....
[Appellants] will not seek additional payment from [Republic] under this Letter of Guarantee if 1) payment is made by an insurance carrier in accordance with the ... Workers’] Compensation statutory fee schedule, or 2) payment is made under terms of a Certified Health Care Network’s contracted fee schedule, 3) payment is made by a Third Party Administrator’s Provider Agreement, if any are in effect, or (4) [Republic] has workers’ compensation insurance with Texas Mutual Insurance Company.
Payment will be made ... if a claim is not filed with the Insurance carrier, by [Republic], in a timely fashion....

Lundy testified that appellants “did not receive payment within 30 days at all. [Appellants] didn’t receive a discounted payment. [Appellants] didn’t receive any payment after notifying [Republic] with the bills....”

Lundy stated that appellants also did not receive any payment: (1) by an insurance carrier in accordance with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation; (2) under the terms of a Certified Health Care Network’s contracted fee schedule; or (3) from a third-party administrator’s provider agreement. Additionally, Lundy stated that Republic did not submit a claim to its insurance provider in a “timely fashion,” but that Republic did so “over a year later.”

Lundy testified that after sending numerous bills to Republic and receiving no payments, appellants transferred the matter to their collections attorney. Lundy also admitted that Republic had sent a payment to appellants’ “lockbox account” in the amount of $2,915.48 to Hand & Wrist and $2,517.06 to SCA Hospital. The evidence admitted at trial indicates this payment was entered into Hand & Wrist’s billing system on October 4, 2011. Lundy further stated that both appellants received the partial payments “at the same time.” Finally, Lundy testified that the amount initially owed SCA Hospital was $15,534.51, and the amount initially owed Hand & Wrist was $4,028.62. Thus, the amounts Republic owed on the original bills after deducting its partial payments were $1,113.14 to Hand & Wrist and $13,017.45 to SCA Hospital.

On cross-examination, Lundy disagreed with Republic’s categorization of the unpaid balance as an “adjustment,” and denied that any condition within the Letter of Guarantee or “adjustment” occurred. Republic presented no evidence in its case in chief of either “adjustments” on the amount owed by Republic or the occurrence of any of the conditions within the Letter of Guarantee.2 Appellants’ trial counsel asked Lundy about the alleged adjustments made to the amount owed by Republic:

[Appellants’ Trial Counsel:] Okay. So — so none of these caveats to allow this adjustment occurred; therefore, the fees that — that are y’all’s normal fee schedule are owed?
[Lundy:] Correct.
[Counsel:] Okay. So — so it’s just flat wrong, what opposing counsel said about [716]*716this contract allows for adjustments under the circumstances of this case?
[Lundy:] Yes.

The jury found that Republic failed to comply with the Letter of Guarantee. The jury awarded Hand & Wrist damages of $1,113.14 and SCA Hospital damages of$18,017.45.

Appellants moved for judgment and requested that prejudgment interest be awarded. In appellants’ amended motion for judgment, appellants asserted that:

Before suit was filed [Republic] owed. Hand & Wrist $4,028.62 and owed [SCA Hospital] $15,534.51. On October 14, 2009, [Republic] received a certified letter notifying it of the claim. This is the point from which prejudgment interest accrues.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
401 S.W.3d 712, 2013 WL 1802631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hand-wrist-center-of-houston-pa-and-sca-houston-hospital-for-texapp-2013.